Magical Girl Animetopoeia
by girl.with.many.faces
Summary: The end of the Triwizard Tournament was a shock to everyone and Lavender Brown can't stop thinking about it. She can't bring herself to believe Harry and Dumbledore are crazy, despite what the Daily Prophet might say. Suddenly, Lavender finds herself approached by a girl claiming to be the goddess of anime! "Okay. Make me strong enough to change this fate!"
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, so I decided to republish this story. I wanted to reorganize the order of the worlds Lavender went to. I think this holds together a lot better than it did before.**

**Ever since I read a fanfic about Lavender Brown being completely anime-obsessed, I actually found myself enjoying the character (if anyone knows the story, please let me know!)**

**This is my shot at an Animetopoeia that does not star Harry Potter. Hope you enjoy!**

**I do not own Harry Potter! (other disclaimers will come along depending on the universe Lavender goes to).**

…

The end of fourth year had been…unsettling. At least in the mind of Lavender Brown. Harry Potter claimed Voldemort was back. He arrived with the corpse of Cedric Diggory in his arms.

The sight of the dead boy had sent a chill up Lavender's spine.

It wasn't like what she'd seen on the tele where the corpses were all pale and drained. It looked like he was just asleep. Like he could wake up at any moment.

But he didn't wake up. He would never wake up.

And then they were sent home.

She'd heard little to nothing about Voldemort after words. Just a bunch of bashing from the tabloids.

Dumbledore was insane. Harry Potter was insane.

It was written convincingly enough, but whenever she started thinking maybe they were just crazy, maybe Voldemort wasn't back…she remembered the sightless eyes of Cedric Diggory.

She was all giddy. All…jumpy.

How many people would believe he was back once they returned to Hogwarts?

She'd seen the way Harry had been bullied during his second year for being a parselmouth, would he even want to save them all? Would Dumbledore?

If she was in their shoes she'd just leave. Go far, far away and say, 'Alright, go ahead, take Britain. It's not worth it anyways.'

"Am I a bad person?" Lavender rolled over on the couch at home, breathing in the scent of the cushion her head was resting on.

"Maybe someone else should rise to the occasion." Lavender smiled goofily. She was starting to doze off, "Maybe I should be the hero. A magical girl superhero!" She giggled a little, drunk from drowsiness.

Yeah right.

"Did somebody say magical girl?"

"Ha?" Lavender blinked open her eyes.

There was a girl floating right above her. Her multicolored hair moving about in a non-existent breeze, her body clad in a sailor uniform with a navy skirt.

"What?" Lavender whispered, "Who…are you?"  
The girl grinned,

"My name is Animetopoeia! The goddess of anime!"  
"Goddess…of Anime?" Lavender didn't really know what anime was.

Wait. No. Hadn't there been a guy in Ravenclaw, a muggleborn who was all obsessed with those…Japanese cartoon things?

Lavender herself was a pureblood. But her mother refused to be ignorant about muggles and their customs. That was why Lavender's house had a tele.

"I'm from a special charity organization called Goddesses Change Fate." The girl's eyes gleamed, "A girl destined to die at age seventeen…yes…yes, you'll definitely do."  
"Eh? D-destined to die…at seventeen?" Lavender stuttered out, wide-eyed.

"So, you want to be a magical girl and change the fate of this world? I can definitely do that! Just say the word and we'll see if we can't change your fate for the better!"

"I…" Lavender stared at her.

Someone should step up…

The person to step up…was going to be her?

"How do I know…you're telling the truth?" Lavender wondered.

"All you have to say is yes or no." Animetopoeia said simply.

Her eyes, Lavender thought. She'd never seen eyes like the ones Animetopoeia had. They seemed to change color. Like a rainbow.

She didn't know what had come over her. This girl…she was a stranger. In her home! An intruder…

Cedric's lifeless eyes flashed through her mind. Harry's terrified face, tears streaking down his cheeks.

She'd never seen him cry before…

Then there was her mother…Her mother who never smiled.

"Yes."

The world around her faded to black.

Lavender blinked.

Even Animetopoeia seemed to have vanished.

Cautiously, she got up in the darkness. Or…was it actually dark? She could still see herself completely. There was just nothing around her but void.

Lavender stepped forward. Ripples spread out at her feet.

Her eyes widened and she turned around to see the girl with the multicolored hair.

"You want to be a magical girl, yeah?" Animetopoeia said.

Lavender felt her mind go blank. She dipped her chin.

Well…she was already down the rabbit hole now, wasn't she?

"Okay." Animetopoeia drew in a deep breath, "A world where you can learn to become a magical girl…and change your fate and the fates of those around you…"

Images flashed inside Lavender's mind. A frightened Harry holding Cedric's corpse. Her mother who never smiled…She was seeing it all over again, those memories that had made her say yes.

Was it worth the risk?

If this person was tricking her, and Lavender knew she had the right to be suspicious! If this person was tricking her…the worse that could happen was…her dying here, or getting kidnapped or something…right?

But if this was real, even if the possibility was only slight…

Lavender had never had the desire to be a hero. She doubted she ever would.

But no one else would step forward. Those that had taken on the mantle of 'hero' were being crushed by the people they had sworn to protect.

Lavender had often been accused of being naïve. That wasn't new to her.

But it wasn't true.

She always knew when people were lying to her. Her aunt lied to her all the time, so she was used to it.

But she chose to go along with it anyways because a small part of her hoped…maybe people would prove her wrong. Maybe there was a good reason they were lying. Maybe they didn't actually want to hurt her.

Or maybe that was even more naïve than blind trust.

This person, Animetopoeia, Lavender felt no deception from her.

But even if she really was telling the truth, or at least, she believed she was telling the truth, that didn't necessarily mean her intentions were pure.

Could she be making a deal with the devil?

Did it matter if she was?

Animetopoeia held out her hand to Lavender.

"I'll take you to other worlds. Worlds where you will gain incredible power. But you'll also be faced with incredible danger. There's a possibility you'll die. But if you survive, you'll gain the power to change your fate."

What a strange person. Now she was trying to talk her out of it?

But maybe that's what made Lavender decide to take her hand.

From their clasped palms came a shining, white light that enveloped them both, blinding them completely.

….

0000000000000

…

Lavender woke up to the sound of knocking. She was laying on a couch in a big living room.

"Where am I?" She wondered.

Her house wasn't this big…

A knocking came at the door again. She got up, unsure as to whether she should answer it or not. She decided to open the door.

An Asian woman, middle-aged and wearing a kimono was there on the doorstep.

"You are Brown Lavender-san." The woman phrased it as though it wasn't a question.

She looked over her round spectacles at her.

She sort of reminded Lavender of Professor McGonagall in a way. They had the same no-nonsense attitude.

"Yes, ma'am." Lavender said suddenly tense.

Maybe it was because she was so often caught by the transfiguration professor passing notes in class…or casting color change charms on her hair.

The woman looked over critically, then,

"My name is Miwa Hoshi. You will address me as Miwa-san. I am your new caretaker. Your guardian signed me on for the full year. I'll be cooking, cleaning and, in the event that you need any help with your assignments, you may ask me questions but I encourage you to find the answers yourself."  
"Um…right." Lavender said, a little bewildered, "I quite literally just got here and haven't had much time to look around."  
"Then I'll be finding my room on my own." She decided, lugging in a large suitcase, "Then I shall start on lunch."

Yup. As much as a hard-ass as Lavender had expected. She allowed her inside.

…..

00000

…

Lavender had school only two days later. She received an envelope of information on her new school along with a sailor uniform (which was actually kind of cute). Miwa went over proper etiquette with Lavender.

Japan was a whole other culture (and this place looked a lot like Japan). She learned about bowing to the teacher and praying to the Divine Tree (whatever that was) at the end and start of every class. She also learned about how to properly take off her shoes. In Japan they had an interesting view on 'clean' and 'unclean'. Although, it seemed to be more of a spiritual cleanliness than a literal one.

She was nervous about school. Although she knew far more about the muggle world than her peers, she felt grossly underprepared.

Lavender had never traveled before. Granger had bragged a little about some of the big trips her family had taken together and Lavender had always wanted to visit another country.

This place wasn't a big city. It was kind of…in the countryside maybe? It was by the ocean, which was rather nice. It looked like she might be allowed to visit the beach in the summer. She'd never been to the ocean before, but even the air seemed to have a salty tang to it. So…unlike where she lived, and so unlike Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade or anywhere else she'd been.


	2. Chapter 2

**This is a long chapter! I plan on sending Lavender into the deep end right away and go with a darker story, but I swear there is a method to my madness!**

**A lot of people gave me some really great suggestions for possible magical girl worlds to send my characters too. I doubt I'll be able to cover all of them. More suggestions are welcome, by the way.**

**I do not own Harry Potter or Yuki Yuna is a Hero**

…**.**

She walked to school. It wasn't a big place. She nervously made her way inside. There were a lot of decorations made of paper and rope. Something to do with the religion? She guessed. She quickly went through how to properly remove her shoes in her head once again.

Remove your shoes at the inside step. Make sure your shoes don't touch the carpet area where the shoe lockers are, but make sure your socks don't touch the stone floor where you're taking off your shoes, instead move your feet up onto the carpet, up a step, then pick up your shoes and put them in your shoe locker.

Lavender changed her shoes out for her indoor shoes and put them on at the wooden floor part.

Her class…it was class three-two. That meant, she was on the third floor.

She was asked by the teacher to introduce herself to the class. Miwa had gone over this with her. State her name, be formal, say something about yourself.

She wrote her name on the board in katakana and romanji.

"Hello. My name is Brown Lavender. I recently moved here. My interests are fashion and…legends. Please to meet you." She bowed to the class.

She received some applause for her efforts and straightened with a smile on her face. She didn't know why she had added in the part about legends. It had just sort of slipped out.

"Alright, Brown-san." The teacher said, "You may take a seat beside Inubouzaki-san."

A girl with long, blond pigtails waved to her enthusiastically. Lavender smiled at her and moved to the desk beside her, sitting down in her new seat. She took out her books and notebooks and pencils, hanging her backpack off the back of her chair the way the other kids did.

There was a brief overview of events going on at the school. This was homeroom so there wasn't really any studying involved yet.

Their next class was math. Unlike at Hogwarts, the teachers seemed to go to the student's class instead of the other way around. There were some brief breaks in between, allowing Lavender to stretch her legs for a bit.

She was immediately crowded during lunch by the other girls who all wanted to get to know her and ask questions.

New students were always interesting, no matter what world, Lavender figured.

….

000000000000000

…..

Lavender tried to stifle a yawn as the classes after lunch began. And then, a random musical beeping was heard.

"Eh?" The girl beside her wondered.

"Inubouzaki-san, why isn't your phone turned off?" The teacher asked as she took out her phone which was, indeed, ringing.

Lavender reached into her own bag and found that hers was ringing too.

**Forestation Warning**

Huh? What did that mean? Lavender wondered.

Something was wrong. She noticed before she even looked up. Everyone in the room was frozen. Or…maybe time had stopped? No one was moving…or blinking. She noticed a flower petal frozen in the air.

"No."

Lavender turned to Inubouzaki who had paled considerably.

"What's happening?" She looked at Inubouzaki.

The girl flinched, then turned to Lavender.

"You too?" She swallowed as though she was regretting something. Something terrible.

"We're it." She whispered.

"It?" Lavender had no idea what that meant.

Was that something common to this world?

"I need to make sure my sister is okay. Please…please let her not be it too. Please…" She took off running into the hall.

What did that mean?

Lavender chased after her. She was the only one who seemed to have any sense of what was going on, after all.

_Every world has its own dangers…_

Hadn't Animetopoeia said something like that? Was being 'it' one of those dangers?

"Oneechan!" A young girl was running up the stairs.

She immediately hugged Inubouzaki-san.

"What's going on? I was so worried?" The girl, and she looked younger than the two of them, said.

"I'm sorry." Inubouzaki-san said seriously, "We're it."  
"It?" The girl whispered.

"I don't understand." Lavender decided to stop them, "When you say 'it'…" She nearly lost her balance when the world started to shake.

The young girl let out a small scream,

"What's happening, Oneechan!?"

Inubouzaki-san closed her eyes in resignation. A pale, white light overtook the whole school and then, all of a sudden…they weren't even standing in the school at all!

Lavender looked around, wide-eyed.

"What…is this place?"

It was like…they were ants on top of a giant root with many roots around them and a large tree in the distance. Only, everything was a rainbow of color.

This didn't even look like the real world…

Inubouzaki-san took out her phone. She opened up some sort of app.

"I knew it…they're here too."  
"Who's here?" Lavender wanted to know.

She could feel a bit of panic sinking its way into her heart.

"This way." She gestured the two of them to follow, "I'll explain once we're all together. There's more than just us here, so…"  
That made a bit of sense. The two of them followed her through the forest of roots and multicolored weirdness.

It hardly took them a minute before they came across a girl with red hair tied up and clipped back from her face, and a girl with long, black hair in a wheelchair.

"Fu-senpai! Itsuki-chan!" The girl with red hair looked relieved to see them, "Where are we? What's going on?"

They were all panicked as well, Lavender realized. She wasn't the only one.

"It could have been worse." Inubouzaki, or Fu said.

Since Fu and Itsuki were sisters, it might be best to call them by their first names…if she got their permission.

"If we'd left our phones behind, we would have never found each other." Fu told them awkwardly hugging the redheaded girl.

"Eh?" The redhead wondered.

Fu took out her phone, then showed her the app. The girl in the wheelchair moved over to get a look as well.

"This is…"  
"I didn't know this app could do something like this." The younger sister, Itsuki commented.

"A hidden feature?" Redhead guessed.

"This hidden feature activates whenever this happens." Fu explained.

"Um, hold up." Lavender said, brow furrowing, "How do you know so much about this, eto…can I call you Fu-san? It's just, your sister is here and it might be confusing."  
"Go ahead." Fu said, not bothered by this.

"Okay. How do you know so much about this?" Lavender wanted to know.

"And this is the app you wanted us to download." The girl in the wheelchair frowned, "When we joined the club…"  
"Club?" Lavender murmured.

"The Hero Club." Red elaborated.

But they all looked over towards Fu.

Fu sat down on a slightly elevated part of the root they were on. She looked down contemplatively.

"Everyone, please stay calm and listen." She seemed to be gathering herself, "I was dispatched from Taisha."  
"Taisha…" the redhead knew what that was, "The people who look after the Divine Tree?"

Was there more to this than just religion? Lavender wondered. When Miwa had asked her to pray to the divine tree…and how this was all normal…

Well, she had been sent to this world by a goddess. Maybe it was presumptuous to start dismissing the religions of other worlds as well, non-interactive? Lavender had never been religious herself. She supposed a higher being could exist and she didn't dismiss the idea, but to actually interact with one?

This would be the second time…

"Do you have some sort of special business here?" The girl in the wheelchair asked.

Lavender was about to ask them all their names, but held her tongue. All her senses were on alert, telling her that they were in danger and she wasn't sure they'd have the time.

"We've been together all this time…" Itsuki, the younger sister whispered, "I never knew anything about this until now."

Her older sister closed her eyes. She didn't look too happy either.

"I wasn't going to say anything unless we became 'it'."  
"It?" red whispered.

Fu looked upwards. She wasn't thrilled about being 'it.' Whatever that meant. It was clear as day to everyone.

"The world we're in now is a barrier created by the Divine Tree."  
Like a ward? Lavender mentally wondered.

"The Divine Tree?"  
"Then…this isn't a bad place, right?" Itsuki said quickly.

"No." Fu said, "But we've been chosen by the Divine Tree. So, we're going to have to fight enemies here."  
"Eh? Enemies?" The girl in the wheelchair asked.

"Fight?" Itsuki looked worried.

"Um, by the way…" The redheaded girl spoke, "What's this dot?" She still had Fu's phone and showed them all a big, red dot which had appeared on screen.

Fu stood up,

"It's coming." Fu whispered.

"An enemy?" Lavender guessed.

She could feel her whole body tense up. Lavender had never fought a day in her life. It was normal to be scared. They all were. She even noticed how some of them were shaky a little.

They turned in the direction of the big dot and soon, they saw it.

It looked like a giant, pink blimp with eyes and tentacles. It was floating towards them.

"There it is." Fu said, "Thankfully, this one seems slow."

"It's floating…"  
"That's a vertex." Fu told them seriously, "It's an enemy of mankind, come to destroy the world."  
The world? That was a grand scale!

Perhaps a bigger scale than Voldemort.

She suddenly understood what it was like to be Harry. He hadn't known magic had existed until he'd gotten his Hogwarts letter (she'd overheard him talking about it in first year). Suddenly brought to another world, positioned in front of an enemy and told to fight without any prior knowledge, experience or training.

She knew nothing. He had known nothing.

Some people blamed him for knowing nothing, for not living up to their expectations.

Maybe even she had blamed him a bit.

They'd all been idiots. Even she had.

"By destroy the world…" Itsuki looked at her older sister fearfully.

"The Vertex's objective is to reach this world's treasure. The Divine Tree. When it does…this world will be destroyed."

"We're the only people in this world…" The girl in the wheelchair whispered, "Why were we chosen?"

"The Taisha determined that we were most suited for the job." Fu said.

"Us?" Lavender said disbelievingly, "A bunch of kids? Save the world? Are they crazy?"

"No way." The girl in the wheelchair looked down at her phone, panicked, "I can't fight that thing."  
"We can." Fu said, causing them all to look at her again. She lifted up her phone, "If we show our resolve to fight, another feature will appear on our phones and transform us into Heroes of the Divine Tree."

Lavender quickly took out her phone. She mentally felt that she still had her wand in her pocket as well. If this app thing didn't work…

It was there! It looked like some sort of sprout…or something?

"Everyone!" The girl in the wheelchair shouted urgently. She was pointing towards the sky.

A bright light was headed towards them.

"Look out!"  
Lavender flicked out her wand,

"Protego!"

She wasn't the best at Defense Against the Dark Arts, but she knew how to cast a good shield spell. It still cracked.

"Brown…san?" Fu wondered.

"I know a bit of magic." Lavender said as a quick explanation.

There was too much going on to get into the specifics now.

"It's…it's not going to do anything against something like that though!" she was shaking a bit.

Her shield charm had barely held out. It hadn't really succeeded in protecting them, only diverting the attack.

There was smoke everywhere.

"That thing's noticed us." Fu said, eyes moving to Lavender briefly, before looking back at the sky.

"It's coming after us?" Red looked worried.

"No…no way…I can't…fight that thing." The girl in the wheelchair shook, tears forming in her eyes.

Red immediately started comforting her. Lavender learned her name was Tougou.

"Yuuna." Fu said as she stepped forward (she was talking to the redhead), "Take Tougou and get away."  
"B-but…"  
"Hurry!"

"Ah, right!" She said, grabbing the handles of Tougou's wheelchair and pushing her away.

"Itsuki too."

"No!" Itsuki shouted, "I won't leave you here to fight alone, Oneechan!"

"Itsuki…"  
"I'll follow you no matter what!"

"I won't leave either." Lavender said quietly.

There were two options for her right now. She needed to survive this world. If she died, she wouldn't get to go home. She'd never see Parvati again and…her fate would never be changed. People would die because of the war. And…who knows, with the way people have been treating Dumbledore and Harry, the world might be left without a hero as well.

A hero…

Lavender didn't want to be a hero.

Despite being in Gryffindor, despite knowing she was brave, she wasn't a hero. She wasn't cut out for this.

But neither was Harry Potter, was he? He was just some orphan boy who lost his parents to a madman.

Lavender had lost her father to the war, and she'd partially lost her mother too. They were probably equally qualified.

She hardly knew how to fight. Her defensive spells were useless, obviously. So, she'd just have to fight like an animal to win doing whatever it took to survive this.

"Alright, follow my lead." Fu said, taking out her phone.  
Lavender took out her own cellphone to find a purple flower had appeared where there was once a sprout.

The other girls pressed their fingers to the screen. Lavender did the same.

A great magic seemed to envelope her. Lavender had never felt anything like it before. It was like all of Hogwarts's magic was being pressed into her.  
It felt strange.

Her clothes vanished, being replaced by…a purple bodysuit? A white robbed sleeveless top appeared over her upper body, then a black chest plate overtop of that, dark purple fabric wrapped over her arms, it looked like some sort of armor, the top of it was hard to endure some force, and a short, purple pleated skirt that went over the top up to her breasts and tied in a bow at the front. She had tight, black capri-tights underneath that went down to her knees. Her shoes were flexible and fabric-like. A purple ribbon traveled up her right leg, tying into a bow where a flower pendant appeared in the center.

The other two girls had transformed. They seemed to have color themes, Lavender observed. The older sister was yellow, and the younger sister was green.

"Jump to dodge!" Fu ordered them.

They jumped…really high!

Lavender let out a scream as she fell through several miles of roots and branches.  
They managed to land and Lavender barely stuck it. The younger sister lost her balance and fell on her butt, looking dizzy from the experience.

Another attack came.

"Jump!" Fu shouted.

They jumped. Lavender and Itsuki both screamed. Lavender felt her heart race. Adrenaline pumped through her system.

Strange, round…things seemed to attack them mid-air. Fu cut through one of them with her sword.

"Ah!" Itsuki yelped when two of those…things came at her.

"Raise your arm to show you want to fight!" Fu ordered her.

"Like this?" Itsuki wondered, pulling her arm back.

Leafy vines shot out towards the attackers which exploded. Itsuki let out a small scream of surprise.

Lavender held out her hand, praying this would work as another one was heading right for her.

A spear appeared, gleaming silver. Lavender spun it around automatically, slicing through the attacker.

She closed her eyes when the explosion hit.

But she'd done it.

They landed and this time Itsuki stuck it as well.

Was there less gravity or something? Lavender wondered. Her body felt light. But…it hadn't felt that way before her transformation…magic? Her mind seemed to be going in a loop.

She cut through two more enemies.

Lavender had never held a spear before. But…she remembered having heard something from Parvati. Something about, in the past, women used to use spears when fighting because it provided for a better reach…or something.  
The information might have stuck with her subconsciously. Maybe that's why the magic god tree had granted her one (there was so much wrong with that thought).

She was doing all she could just not to get hit by those round ball-bombs. They'd have to go on the offensive eventually or they'd never win!

She decided to make the first move, launching herself forward, she brought her spear down over where the bombs seemed to be coming from.

It was harder to cut through than she'd thought! But she still managed.

"Alright!" She turned, only to see that it was healing its self. Her eyes widened, "No way…how…how are we supposed to beat that thing?"

"Hero Punch!"

Lavender looked up just in time to see Yuna, the redhead who now had pink hair, go punching through part of the monster's body.

"No way…" Fu whispered.

"Incredible." Itsuki said with awe.

"Yeah…" Lavender whispered.

She hadn't managed to give the thing that much damage…

They all jumped back while it was healing.

"How are we supposed to defeat that thing, Fu-senpai?" Yuna shouted over at Fu.

"Vertexes can regenerate when they are damaged." Fu said, eyes narrowing at the creature, "The only way to defeat them is to complete the sealing ritual."

"H-how do we do that, oneechan?" Itsuki asked her nervously.

"I'll explain as we dodge its attacks, so listen carefully!"

The thing shot off more of those bombs, heading right towards them. They all jumped, avoiding them and flying several stories in the air.

Lavender was surprised to find that she was already getting used to the limited gravity sensation as she moved through the air.

The others stuck a bit closer to the ground. Lavender cut through another bomb, then flipped through the air, landing by the other girls and taking off into a run after them.

The group moved towards the vertex, surrounding it, then raising their arms in the air. Fu had sent them all a link to the words needed for the sealing.

"That's a lot of words!" Lavender swallowed hard.

Did they have enough time?

No. She needed to get started. She needed to try.

"Oh lord of the afterlife. Have mercy on us." A strange sprite appeared in front of Lavender.

That was probably her fairy. She'd seen Itsuki's and Fu's already. Hers looked a bit like a black cat with violet eyes and ears that pointed then curled in a deep shade of purple.

"Bestow your blessing upon us." Lavender would look up now and then to make sure she wasn't about to get attacked.

"Oh spirit of good luck. Oh spirit of miracles –"

"Alright, that's good enough!" Fu shouted, slamming down her sword.

Magical energy flowed around them in the form of scattered flower petals. They whirled around the Vortex.

"It doesn't really matter what you say as long as you mean it." Fu told them.

"You could have told us sooner, Oneechan!" Itsuki pouted.

A dark, pyramid like structure came out of the things head (or what Lavender was thinking of as its head). It spun around, floating in the air.

"The sealing ritual exposes its soul." Fu told them, "That thing's like it's heart. If we destroy that, then we're done!"

"I'll take care of it then!" Yuna jumped up into the air, "Take this!" She brought her fist down, then let out a small cry and held onto her hand, "It's hard!"

It didn't even crack!  
"Nee, Oneechan, these numbers are decreasing." Itsuki said, looking at the edge of the circle.

Numbers written in kanji were counting down.

"That…may not be good." Lavender murmured.

"It's not." Fu agreed with her, "That's measuring our remaining power. When the number hits zero, we'll lose our hold on it. Then we'll have no hope of defeating it."  
"Eh!?"

"It'll make its way to the Divine Tree, then it will all be over!" Fu summoned up her sword again, then jumped up in the air, "Yuna! Switch!"

"Got it!" Yuna jumped out of the way.

Fu started striking the thing repeatedly with her sword.

"We might already be in trouble." She murmured.

Lavender summoned her spear again, then jumped forward, striking with all her might! She jumped up and felt her feet press up against the creature, she used that to launch herself harder at the pyramid.

She managed to crack it.

The forest around them started to blacken and roots seemed to be rotting.

"Not good. It's starting." Fu said, "The longer we take, the more the forest will start to die and affect the real world. We need to hurry."

"I've got it!" Yuna shouted. She jumped into the air, fist raised to strike.

Lavender jumped out of the way as her fist impacted the heart.

It cracked further, then burst apart.

The Vortex started turning to sand.

The world around them trembled and magic washed over them all.

When Lavender opened her eyes, they were standing on the roof of the school.

"Wow." Lavender murmured.

"Yeah." Fu agreed with the sentiment, "The Divine Tree returned everything to normal."

"That's a relief." Lavender let out a sigh.

"Eto…who are you anyways?" Yuna asked Lavender curiously.

"My name is Brown Lavender." Lavender introduced herself, "I just transferred here today…I don't remember downloading any apps onto my phone, but…I do have a secretive guardian and she's the one who gave me my phone so…"  
"I see…" Fu said, "So, she probably put the app on it then."  
Lavender nodded. It was likely because of Animetopoeia.

"What are your guys' names. I only know Fu-san because we're in the same class." Lavender said, "And she sits beside me."

"I'm Yuki Yuna." The redhead introduced.

"My name is Togo Mimori." The girl in the wheelchair introduced. She didn't look too happy about what had just happened, "Please call me Togo."  
"Um, okay." Lavender said, thinking it a bit strange she wanted to be called by her family name.

"I'm Inubouzaki Itsuki." The younger sibling of Fu introduced, "You can call me Itsuki."

"It's nice to meet you all." Lavender said, "You can call me Lavender. Er, I guess that's tough to say in Japanese. Lav is fine."

"Lav-chan?" Yuna tested it out.

Itsuki started crying, then ran to her sister, hugging her.

"It's okay." Fu said gently, "You did a really good job. I'll give you half of the pudding we have in the fridge."  
"That was mine to begin with!" Itsuki sobbed.

Togo swallowed hard, looking over at Yuna,  
"You're okay, Yuna-chan?"  
"I'm fine, Togo." Yuna said, "We…we made it out okay."

They may have done alright this time, but…Lavender wasn't so sure about the next time.

"Well, I guess you'll be joining the Hero Club, then." Fu interrupted her thoughts.

"Hero Club?" Lavender wondered.


	3. Chapter 3

**I may have tried to cover some of the inconsistencies of the original story a bit. As for Lavender, I'm trying not to make her too bland. She's obviously got her own struggles as well. Things she's dealing with that she doesn't want the world to know, and she has trouble connecting with the girls in the Hero club in part because of this. She's also worried about getting too close to them and getting hurt and she will have to overcome that.**

**I do not own Harry Potter or Yuki Yuna is a Hero.**

…**..**

The Hero Club was some sort of help club. People came there with a problem and the Hero Club tried to help solve it.

Right now, they were working on a group of kittens who needed to find owners.

Lavender had to fill out a form to join. When she got there the next day, she found Yuna with her fairy resting on her head.

"He's really attached to you, isn't he?" Itsuki observed.

"His name is Gyuuki!" Yuna beamed happily.

"Eh? Cute." Itsuki commented.

"He loves eating beef jerky."

"Eh!? But he's a cow, right?"

Lavender had named her own fairy Chi, due to the funny sounds it sometimes made when it was happy.

"Now then." Fu said, grabbing their attention, "I'm glad you're all well."

Lavender seemed to be the last to arrive. She pulled out a chair and sat down facing Fu and the chalk board.

"Let me explain what happened yesterday." She suggested.

"Please do." Yuna said.

"The app already explains how we fight. So, I just need to tell you about why we fight."  
"This is a vertex." She pointed to a chalk drawing on the board, "The Divine Tree prophecy tells us that twelve of these will come from the other side."

"Oh. So that's supposed to be the enemy we fought…" Itsuki realized.

"Your drawing really captures its wacky appearance." Yuna complimented.

In Lavender's opinion, the drawing was pretty terrible. It looked more like a crude depiction of the Sorting Hat.

Fu ignored the comment,

"Its aim is to destroy the Divine Tree. We were told that one has tried attacking before, but all they could do at the time was chase it away. So, the Taisha designed a system where we could use the Divine Tree's powers to transform into heroes." She started circling the tinny stick figures at the bottom of the board, "To fight the supernatural, we need to be supernatural ourselves."

"So those are drawings of us…" Itsuki murmured.

"Er, it's modern art!" Yuna laughed awkwardly.

Fu looked a little irritated now at their comments on her drawings,

"But there's a caveat. They say if the forest suffers any sort of damage, the real world will be affected equally. We need to be sure not to wreak havoc or there will be a disaster."

It was Togo who spoke up next,

"The Hero Club are all people you chose for this purpose, aren't they, senpai?"

"Yeah, that's right. I already knew who had an optimal aptitude for it." Fu confessed, "Although, Lav-chan was a surprise."

They all looked over at Lavender.

"I only just transferred here, so…that makes some sense." She agreed awkwardly.

"Not to mention those weird powers you displayed before activating your hero transformation." Fu looked at Lavender somewhat suspiciously.

"Oh yeah. I forgot about that." Yuna recalled.

"Right…" Lavender trailed off, "That's because…well, I'm a witch."  
"A witch?" Fu repeated.

"Mm…" Lavender dipped her chin, "It's hereditary. My mother was a witch and my father was a wizard. Because of that, I have some magical abilities. But…It didn't do much against that vortex."

"Wow, really?" Fu wondered, eyes wide with wonder, "Witches are real?"

"Well…I don't know." Lavender said awkwardly, "I might be the only one in this world…possibly. I don't know."

"Well…that makes you an interesting candidate, at least." Fu said, "There are Hero candidates all over the place, only some get chosen. Then, when the Heroes have done their duty, someone else takes over. Humanity depends on them."  
"All this time…you kept something so important to yourself." Togo whispered.

She started wheeling herself out of the room.

"Eh? Togo!" Yuna ran after her.

Fu looked upset as they left. Though not at them, more at herself.

"I just came here, so I can't really be mad." Lavender told Togo, "I can see why they'd be upset though."  
"Yeah…"

"I know!" Itsuki said, "How about a bit of fortune telling?"

"Fortune telling? You mean divination?" Lavender guessed.

"Eh? Do you know how to do that stuff?" Itsuki asked her wide-eyed.

"Well, yes." Lavender nodded, "It's one of my best subjects, actually. I mean, when it comes to magic, I'm at the top of my class in divination."  
"Eh?" Fu looked impressed, her earlier mood seemed to vanish, "Could you show us? We have tarot cards."  
"I'd love to." Lavender said.

Divination was something she was familiar with. It was something…grounding.

Itsuki showed her to the tarot cards and Lavender sat down at the table, shuffling the cards, then setting them out.

"Ooh! Do me first! Me!" Fu said excitedly.

"Okay." Lavender said, "Here goes…" She lay the cards out and turned the first one over.

The one at the top was the Lovers.

"Ooh! I'm going to be quite popular." Fu beamed.

Lavender laughed a little,

"The lovers can mean love…but it can also mean someone close to that you'll have to rely on in the future." She turned over the next card.

"Death?" Fu paled.

"Death isn't really a bad card like so many people believe." Lavender said, "With Death comes Live. It's a symbol of rebirth and growth."

She began turning over the next one, only for it to freeze in midair.

What?  
And then their phones started going off.

…..

000000000000

…..

They were back in the world of the Divine Tree.

"Three of them." Fu said, "I must be too popular."

She was joking about the prediction Lavender had made earlier.

"Don't worry about the one further back. Just focus on the two closer to the front first."

They'd struggled with the last battle before, now, with three of them, this wasn't going to be easy.

But the one furthest away wasn't moving.

And then, a large spear appeared near its head, launching itself at Fu. Fu let out a small cry as the spike hit, only just managing to parry it.

It then opened up its mouth (or what looked like its mouth). A round of spikes appeared, smaller, but like a hail as they rained down on Fu. She couldn't defend against all those, so she dodged.

"We need to do something about that back one!" Yuna said, launching towards one of the closer vortexes.

The one at the back launched a hail at one of the floating shields.

It was using the angles to cast different attacks! Yuna defended but was quickly overwealmedd, falling into the ground. The scorpion vortex tried to sting her, but Yuna's fairy defended her.

Lavender ran over to her. Her priority right now should be helping Yuna. She slashed through the scorpion's tail, then grabbed Yuna and jumped back just as another attack came at them.

The scorpion healed.

"Shoot! Cornered." Lavender's eyes widened, only to be saved when the tail burst from a sudden projectile attack.

Bullets?

She turned to see Togo now transformed. White pieces of fabric were keeping her up, acting as legs.

The gun in her hand vanished, replaced by two more. She started repeatedly shooting at the scorpion, spinning the guns around, then shooting again as the casings fell out.

"Sugoi…" Yuna whispered.

A plan began to form. The three girls jumped from root to root. The scorpion followed. Yuna jumped down first by the other two girls.

"I brought the shrimp over!" She waved to them.

"That's a scorpion." Fu pointed out.

"Does it really make a difference?" Her younger sister wondered.

Yuna and Lavender landed beside Yuna.

"I'll snipe the one far off." She told them.

"Toga…" Fu was surprised, "Are you joining the fight?"  
"I'll cover you!"  
"We'll take the two up front!"

Togo lay down, summoning a large sniper riffle in hand and readying herself.

"Fan out!" Fu ordered.

"Okay!" They all said together.

"Keep an eye out for surprise attacks!" Togo warned.

"Right!"  
Yuna and Itsuki jumped away.

Lavender decided to work on the one Yuna was fighting. Lavender noticed that before the far away one could attack, its spike was obliterated in a big explosion from one of Togo's bullets.

The three of them did the sealing ritual.

The pyramid souls came out. Yuna attacked the one they'd sealed, only for it to start moving around really fast.

"Are?" She tried again and again, but it wouldn't stay still.

Lavender launched towards it. When her spear didn't pierce, ice flowed out, freezing it to the ground.

"Nice!" Yuna said, then punched the thing to oblivion.

Lavender was mildly surprised. She hadn't known she was capable of doing that.

The other triangle soul started multiplying. But Itsuki grouped them all together with her vines and the pyramids were destroyed.

Togo attacked the far off one a few times. Lavender heard Fu apologising over the phone for some reason. She was talking to Togo apparently.

They jumped over to the last one, Togo's attack had given them some time. They began sealing it. Its soul moved quickly around it in a circle. So fast that Lavender could hardly keep track of it.

And then…Boom!

Togo nailed it with a single shot.

…..

0000000000000000

…

When the world of the Divine Tree vanished, they all wound up back on the roof of the school.

"You were so awesome, Togo!" Yuna hugged her friend from behind.

"So then, Togo." Fu said, grinning at her, "Does that mean…"  
"I'll be fighting with you from now on." Togo confirmed, "As a hero."

"Togo…" Fu looked relieved, "Thank you. Let's do our best for national defense!"

"National defense?" Togo repeated, then smiled a bit, "Yes." She agreed.

"Oh yeah, Yuna-chan…what about homework?" Togo asked her friend.  
"Ah! I forgot all about that! It's due tomorrow!"

"I forgot about it too." Lavender said, trying to comfort her.

It didn't really help any.


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay, to be clear, this fanfic is a bit different from those of you who already read the first chapter of this story when it was first published. I suggest going back to reading the first chapter (sorry for the confusion).**

**I do not own Harry Potter or Yuki Yuna is a Hero.**

…**.**

What did it mean to be a hero?

Did fighting vertexes make her a hero? Lavender wasn't sure. She knew she was helping to save the people here. That if the vertexes got passed her, that was it. This world would end.

It seemed ridiculous! The fate of a whole world on her shoulders?

What about the fate of a country on the shoulders of a boy who just happened to survive a curse? Some part of her thought.

She felt sick.

She just didn't get it. She didn't understand anymore.

With them, it made some modicum of sense. Only some people had the potential to become heroes, and the gods of this world chose them. Those gods could probably only do so much, or grand enough power to so many people.

But with Harry…She couldn't help but feel guilty.

They were all wizards and witches. They all had the power.

Voldemort would keep going after Harry though for no reason other than pride. Harry would go after him because he had killed his parents.

But Voldemort had killed many peoples parents. Not just Harry's.

Voldemort had killed her father.

Lavender drew in a deep breath, staring at the ceiling of her bedroom.

Her fighting was purely instinctual when it came to spear fighting. Surely there were actual techniques she could use.

She got up out of bed and made her way to her laptop which was open on her desk. She turned it on and did a search.

Spear fighting

There were a few naginata dojos around here. Naginata was Japanese spear fighting. It was considered the national women's sport of Japan.

She went to her school website. Sometimes they had a list of clubs…Ah! There it was. Naginata.

"So there is a Naginata club…" Lavender trailed off.

Only five members.

That was a place she could start at. They met in the mornings, but the club was open at lunch time and after school until five.

Hero club was after school and it usually lasted an hour or so. It depended on what they were doing.

There might come a time when raw strength, magical power and instinct weren't enough.

She needed actual technique is she wanted to get better and there was only so much she could do on her own.

…..

000000000000000000

…..

The next day, early in the morning, Lavender went down to the Naginata club.

"Welcome." A girl said, smiling at her.

"Um, hi." Lavender greeted, "I'm really interested in spear fighting and Naginata…I was wondering if I could learn some things here…"  
"Of course." The girl said excitedly, "We haven't had a new member in a while. Are you a third year? A little late to be joining."  
"I actually just transferred here." Lavender said, "I only fought a little bit a while ago, but I haven't been able to forget it." Well, not a lie.

"But, I really want to learn…if that's possible."  
"Of course it is." She said, "Here, if you step into the room, I can show you the equipment."

The outfits they wore looked a lot like the stuff the kendo club wore, Lavender observed.

She'd seen the kendo club practice a few times. Sometimes she'd pass the clubroom on her way to Hero Club.

The people there practiced in bare feet. They wore hakama (the traditional kimono pants worn by kendoists and kyudoists), helmets, padding on the arms and rolled up sleeves.

Lavender was allowed to borrow some of the equipment there. The girl who had shown her in, Sakuno, showed her some proper stances, a kata (a series of movements that went through several different techniques and to get one used to moving in such a way), then had Lavender hold one of their practice naginata. It was a long pole with a curve at the top where the blade would normally be.

They had to stop when classes began

…..

0000000000000000000

…

"Hey, Fu-san?" Lavender asked the girl.

"Hm? What is it?" Fu asked her.

"I need your permission to join this club."  
"Hm? But aren't you already in our club?" Fu wondered.

"I am." Lavender agreed, "But I think that if I do this club then I can help out better with this one."  
Fu looked it over curiously,

"Naginata? Why that?"

"Well…" Lavender trailed off, "There's only so far luck, power, magic and sheer instinct will get me. I think that if I do this, I can learn some actual techniques that could help me when I'm fighting."  
"I see…" Fu looked thoughtful, "Well, that's fine with me, I guess." She scribbled something down on the paper to approve the request, "Just hand that to the naginata club president. You should be good to go."  
"Thank you." Lavender said with a slight smile, "I was just thinking…if we fail, the world is destroyed. I want to fight so that I have no regrets. No questioning whether I could have saved everyone if only I'd practiced. Or if only I'd done a bit of research or actually learned some real techniques…"  
"I think I get it." Fu nodded her head.

Even if all it did was give Lavender a little more confidence, that was still a win.

All along, Lavender hadn't been holding her spear properly. But after a week of practicing, she was getting used to the feel. That in itself was an improvement.

She was pretty fast and strong too. It wasn't enough to keep up with people who had been practicing for two and a half years though.

But it was a start.

…

000000000000000

….

About a month after the last attack, another vertex appeared. The other girls were nervous.

"It's been a whole month. Will we really be okay?" Yuna asked worriedly.

"I think I've got this." Lavender jumped up a few times, then gave a big leap over to the vertex, spear summoned in hand.

She'd been practicing and she wanted to know if that practice had any affect.

Only…several swords fell out of the sky, piercing the vertex. Lavender cut down through it.

"Eh?" She wondered.

"Commence sealing!" Someone commanded.

"Already?" Lavender wondered, then quickly put out her hand to add her own power into the seal.

The pyramid soul appeared and a girl in red came out of the sky, swinging down dual swords. Gas appeared, completely cloaking where the soul was hidden.

Lavender held her breath, then summoned her wand in hand and sent used a vacuuming charm. It was a spell she'd seen her aunt use for cleaning. It seemed to work sucking up the gas.

With her other hand, she cut through the soul, only another blade was there as well.

"Oy! Out of the way, newbie!" the girl shouted at Lavender.

Lavender jumped back, landing a few meters away as the vertex turned to dust.

"Eto…dare?" Yuna wondered, staring at the girl in red.

"Hmph!" She looked away, "You lot look like a real absent-minded bunch."  
"Well, that's a little insulting for someone you just met." Lavender frowned.

"Hmph! I'm Miyoshi Karin. An official _real _hero dispatched by the Taisha. Which means your work here is done." She said smugly, she waved her hand, "Hai, good job doing whatever you've done so far."  
"Eh!?"

…..

00000000000000000000

…..

It was kind of weird how the other girls didn't care about Karin's somewhat insulting declarations.

Lavender would be content if she didn't have to see her again.

Sadly, she did. The very next day when Karin transferred into their school. She was a second year, so mercifully, they weren't in the same class.

She did arrive at the hero club though.

"Acting like a transfer student was such a pain." Karin said as she stood in front of the chalkboard of the Hero Club.

"Aren't you a transfer student?" Lavender raised a delicate eyebrow and wondering a little at her behaviour.

"Hmph." Karin eyed Lavender, looking her up and down, "Just stay out of my way and you should be fine."

Lavender rolled her eyes,

"How many vertexes have you destroyed so far?"  
Karin's eyes narrowed at her,

"I've had training."  
"So have I." Lavender said, "If we've both had training, then doesn't it depend on who's had the more experience if you're talking about who's better?"

"And you've trained all your life for this, then?" Karin shot her a glare.

"No. But I have had years of training in self defense." Lavender crossed her arms over her chest, "And some experience with naginata. I didn't see you clearing the smoke away."  
"I could easily sense the soul. There was no need to waste time clearing the smoke away."

"Mah, mah." Fu waved away, "No need to fight, right? You're both pretty strong."

"Pretty strong?" Karin narrowed her eyes at her, "From the data of seeing you all fight, the Taisha created the perfect hero system for me to use, just so you know. I was raised for this very task."

"Must feel pretty sad being usurped by someone who wasn't, then." Lavender smiled sweetly.

"Uh…" Fu watched the electricity crackle in the air between the two of them.

"Eto…well…welcome to the Hero Club." Yuna said, deciding to change the subject.

"Who?" Karin wondered.

"Hm? You, of course." Yuna said.

"I never said I'd be joining."

"You aren't?" Yuna looked confused.

"No. I'm not. I'm only here to supervise you."

"Eh? You aren't coming here anymore?" Yuna wondered.

"Of course, I am. It's my job." Karin said, looking frustrated.

"Then, it would just make things easier if you joined the club." Yuna concluded.

"She's right." Togo agreed.

There was no flaw in that logic.

"Well…fine then. I'll join the club." She seemed to flounder a little, "That'll probably make it easier to supervise you anyways."

"Could you stop saying 'supervised'?" Fu crossed her arms, "It's not like we wouldn't be doing our jobs without you watching us anyway."

Karin smirked,

"You're just newbies who were chosen by accident. Don't be so smug."

"Who's to say you weren't chosen by accident?" Lavender asked her.

Fu seemed to be growing frustrated by the new girl's behaviour as well.

"Working for the Taisha isn't child's play." Karin then let out a scream.

It looked like Gyuuki, Yuna's fairy was trying to eat Karin's fairy.

"What are you doing!" She ran over and pulled her fairy from Gyuuki's mouth, "You rotten little beast!"  
"You brute!" The fairy echoed her sentiments.

"He's not a brute. He's Gyuuki." Yuna insisted, coming to her fairy's defense.

She then smiled and gave him some beef jerky.

"He's a bit of a big eater."

"Y-you don't even have control over your own fairy!" Karin accused, "You seriously are newbies!"

"None of us bring our fairies out because Gyuuki always tries to bite them." Togo admitted.

"Well, put him away, then!" Karin pointed at Yuna.

"He kind of just comes out on his own." Yuna smiled awkwardly.

"Wha? Your system has to be broken!"

"You brute." Her fairy said again.

"Oh yeah!" Yuna moved in closer to Karin's fairy, "Your fairy can talk, right?" She pet the fairy's head happily.

Karin looked smug,

"Yeah, he's a powerful fairy, well-suited to my abilities."

Lavender found herself growing a little less agitated at Karin. It was hard to take her ridiculously inflated ego seriously when it looked like she was watching a comedy unfold.

"Ah! Togo-san has three of them though." Yuna remembered.

"Eh? Eto…" Togo looked down at her phone, typing something in.

The three fairies appeared, hovering around her head.

"There they are." She said with a smile.

The dumbstruck expression on Karin's face was worth it.

Lavender tried not to laugh and turned away from them to hide her expression.

"I…I only need one because mine's the most powerful!" Karin turned to her fairy, "Right?"

"All things must pass." The fairy said.

"He's very philosophical." Togo commented.

"That's what's so great about him." Karin said quickly.

Lavender noticed the clock on the wall,

"Ah, it's been an hour." She looked over at Fu, "Sorry, but, I need to go, are we all wrapped up here?"

"Hm? Ah, yes, yes, you can go. Good job today, Lav-chan."

"Thank you, Fu-san. Good job today. I'll see you all tomorrow." Lavender said as she left, walking off towards the gymnasium. They had the gym booked for today, rather than their usual clubroom.


	5. Chapter 5

**So…I've been considering making this a Lavender x Harry fic. I want Lavender to have her long-awaited romance. If anyone has any other pairing suggestions, let me know in the comments!**

**I do not own Harry Potter or Yuki Yuna is a Hero**

…

"Wha! Sugoi, Lav-chan." Minako commented as Lavender scored a point on her, "I've never seen anyone get so good in such a short time."

"Thank you. It's all because everyone here helped me learn." Lavender said modestly.

Really, having a bit of instruction had helped her immensely!

"Have you thought about entering a tournament?" Miyashita asked her, "There's going to be one soon and we could really use you."

"That sounds pretty fun." Lavender agreed, "Alright. Why not?"

"We'll be expecting you by some more then." Their club president grinned at her.

Lavender smiled back.

A tournament might be fun. She was actually kind of enjoying Naginata. She hadn't really thought she would. Lavender wasn't really sporty or anything. The countless stairs were enough to keep anyone at Hogwarts in shape, so she never really had trouble staying fit. But she wouldn't have called herself competitive, or really passionate about anything.

Well, she wasn't entirely sure this could be called 'passionate' either. It was just something she enjoyed.

That was all.

…

0000000000000000

…..

"Dried sardines?" Fu commented as they stood, facing Karin who was standing in front of the chalkboard.

Ew, Lavender thought.

"Got a problem with that?" Karin huffed, "They've got vitamins, minerals, calcium, taurine, EPA and DHA. They make a complete diet!"

"Sure…whatever." Fu said dryly.

"You aren't getting any." Karin said.  
"I never asked for any…"

"Then, would you like to trade for my botamochi?" Togo suggested, showing Karin the Japanese pastries in the Tupperware she had with her.

"What are those?" Karin wondered.

"I made them in home economics." Togo explained.

"Togo-san is amazing at making snacks!" Yuna exclaimed happily.

Lavender shrugged her shoulders.

She was still getting used to the different food pallet. But red bean was alright and these looked like they were red bean flavour.

"Would you like to try one?" She offered.

"I don't want one." Karin looked annoyed.

Lavender could sort of understand her frustration. Sometimes it felt like the Hero Club didn't really take their duty seriously. But Lavender wasn't sure she had the heart to tell them to work harder either.

At any moment, one of these girls could die.

There was a weird air hanging around the other girls. Lavender had noticed it soon after the first attack.

They were scared and…this was how they were dealing with it, by spending more time with each other.

Lavender vaguely recalled the relationship between Harry and Dumbledore. The headmaster didn't train Harry. A lot of people speculated that he had.

She didn't know if that was a good strategy. Not in that situation. In this one though…Well, they did take it seriously most of the time, and their teamwork was really good.

They knew each other really well. Lavender kind of felt like she was sort of the odd one out still. Maybe it was because she knew deep down that this wasn't going to last.

Maybe she was thankful for that.

This wasn't her world. She had other chances, once she moved on. Once she survived this…

Finally, the group seemed to sober up, laying off the jokes a little as Karin started talking about the vertexes.

The word 'vertex' caused them all to tense up involuntarily. Fu sometimes broke the mood to keep them loose though.

"Listen up." Karin said, "We thought that the vertex followed regular invasion patterns. But they now seem quite sporadic." She pointed to a drawing of a vertex in pink chalk.

No one commented on how much better her drawing skills were compared to Fu's.

"We did not anticipate this." Karin looked somewhat annoyed again when she noticed all of them eating Botamochi.

"So now, we anticipate many enemies attacking together to make up for it."

"True," Togo said, "We did have several show up at around the same time last month.

"I'll be fine dealing with any situation that arises." Karin said confidently, "But you guys need to be careful. You could end up dead." She looked back over at the board, "Also, when you gain enough battle experience, you can level up and become stronger. We call that 'blooming.'" She looked back over at them.

"I didn't know that!" Yuna interrupted.

Lavender had. She'd read about it in the instruction manual on her phone.

"It's written in your app." Togo told her friend.

"I see!" Yuna lit up.

Karin deadpanned,

"By repeatedly blooming, you can become even stronger! That's the Taisha Hero System."  
"Wow! That's awesome." Yuna said, eyes wide with admiration.

"Have you bloomed already, Miyoshi-san?" Togo asked her.

"N-no…not yet." Karin looked away.

"Oh, so you're still level one like the rest of us." Fu said smugly.

"My base abilities are far higher than any of yours are!" Karin blustered, "Don't think I'm the same as you."  
"Well then, we just have to work hard as well." Fu said simply.

"Alright! How about we practice in the mornings, then?" Yuna suggested. "Just like a sports club!"

"Ah! That sounds like a good idea!" Itsuki agreed.

"Itsuki, you can't even get up in the mornings." Fu reminded her sister.

Yuna laughed a little.

"Neither can you, Yuna-chan." Togo reminded her.  
"Eh…" Yuna looked a tad gloomy at the reminder.

Lavender's eyebrow twitched a bit. She had trouble in the mornings as well, but she still forced herself to go to the Naginata club. Their lives literally depended on it, right?

"How about a compromise?" Lavender suggested.

They all turned to her.

"The fact is, if we fail, the world will be destroyed." Lavender said, "If you fail, the person sitting beside you will die."  
They all tensed at that slice of reality.

"We usually only spend a couple of hours in Hero Club just talking or hanging out. Sometimes we leave early for udon, right?" Lavender reminded them, "If we spend just half an hour a day practicing actual fighting techniques that could improve our chances a lot and give us more confidence. You saw how it went last time, right? Our confidence plummeted because we've been sitting around doing very little. I can a bokken and katana to practice some kendo techniques." Lavender told them, "And I'll see if I can find a punching bag and gloves for Yuna." The Taisha had been sending her money. She'd started to notice that. It was something she could use for the club members.

"I see. That makes a lot of sense." Yuna nodded agreeably, "Just thirty minutes after school, right?"

"Right." Lavender nodded.

Hopefully they could make practice longer as time went on, but this would be a more agreeable point of start.

"Eto…what about me?" Itsuki asked Lavender uncertainly.

Lavender thought on this.

"You use plants as weapons, that's a little like projectiles…I think I might be able to find a cork gun or something for both you and Togo-san. Aim is important. The more accurate you get, the better, and those skills will probably transfer over."

Actually, she had no idea if they would or not. But if it helped her gain even a little bit of confidence in battle, it might be worth it.

"Another thing I might suggest is spending time around your element." Lavender added, "When trying to cast an elemental spell, familiarizing yourself with said element can be very effective."  
"Well, Lav-chan is our magic expert." Yuna grinned.

"Magic expert?" Karin wondered.  
"Un. Lav-chan has magic powers outside of the Hero System." Yuna said.

"That's not possible." Karin dismissed.

"It's true." Fu shrugged her shoulders, "Lav-chan comes from a magical family. Her mother is a witch and her father is a wizard…or something."

"It's fine." Lavender brushed away, "It's not like she needs to believe me. My magical powers alone don't do much good anyways. Not against a vertex."

Karin frowned,

"Really?"

"Now, onto our other subject!" Fu decided to cut in.

Itsuki went to the back to get some handouts. She gave them all some forms.

"As you can see, we're going to help out with local children's activities this weekend." Itsuki explained.

"What kind of activities?" Togo inquired.

"Eto, we'll teach origami, we'll draw, and we'll do all sorts of other activities with the kids." Itsuki answered her.

"As for you, Karin, hm…" Fu began, "You can be a dodgeball target for all the rowdy kids to aim at."

"Ha!?" Karin started to freak out, "W-wait a minute, go back a few steps! I'm going too?"

Fu then showed her the form she'd signed to join the Hero club.

"You joined yesterday, remember?"

"T-technically speaking…" Karin murmured.

"As long as you're here, I ask that you follow our club's principles." Fu said with a teasing undertone to her voice.

"I-I'm a member here on paper only!" Karin protested.

"Well, if that's all." Lavender said, stuffing her form into her bag, "I'd like to leave."  
"Hm? Sure." Fu waved away.  
"Wait! Why does she get to go?" Karin fumed as Lavender left the classroom.

Lavender once again made her way down to the Naginata club.

"Ah! Lav-chan! Welcome back." The captain grinned at her as she entered.

"Thanks. Glad to be back." Lavender started putting on her clothes for naginata.

More spear training.


	6. Chapter 6

**I write way too many author's notes…**

**I do not own Harry Potter or Yuki Yuna is a Hero**

…**.**

How many times had Harry fought for his life? Lavender pondered on this a while, wondering if it was right to compare herself to him.

There were always rumors surrounding the infamous 'boy-who-lived.' She knew that the three tasks last year had been pretty intense, so…three times at least. Then there was a fight against Voldemort after that, so…four? Then there were rumors that Potter had been the one to deal with Slytherin's monster. Five? Some say he was involved in a dementor attack and Professor Lupin turned into a werewolf in front of him. Six? Seven? And something happened in first year that landed him in the hospital wing as well. Eight?

So far, Lavender's life-or-death situations totaled to approximately three.

Sure, with her crazy, magical hero powers she could probably beat Voldemort with just a flick of her finger, but there was no guarantee she'd be keeping those abilities when she left this world and returned to her own.

So then…what was she really doing?

Was learning how to fight with a spear really a useful ability? Would it help her in the long run?

She contemplated this as she helped out the Hero club with their Sunday activities. Karin didn't show up for whatever reason (although she wasn't too surprised).

The club had been wanting to surprise Karin with a party, but since she hadn't arrived, that plan had been a bust.

They decided to stop by her place after the fact, since she wasn't picking up her phone.

"So…you don't like kids, Lav-chan?" Fu asked her with a goofy smile.

"No." Lavender said bluntly.

What was so great about kids? They were sticky, messy, and pretty nasty when they wanted to be.

She often flip-flipped between wanting kids of her own one day, and not. Like…she didn't like other people's kids, but she sort of wanted her own? How did that even work?

Well…she'd probably make a terrible mother. Maybe it would be best if she didn't.

Still…Lavender had always wanted a family.

She wasn't sure if what she had now counted.

….

00000

….

After their little surprise party, Karin seemed to warm up to them a bit more. On Monday, when the Hero Club met up again after school, Lavender had a little surprise for them.

"What's this?" Fu wondered.

The girls all entered. Lavender came in a little later.

"Did you do all this, Lav-chan?" Fu asked her, "No one seems to know who did it…as much as I'd love to take credit…"

"I did it." Lavender confirmed.

There was a punching bag hanging from the ceiling, there was also some kendo equipment Lavender had managed to find second hand, and some naginatas, wooden targets and cork guns.

"I went out on Saturday looking for some stuff to get cheep." Lavender said, "My guardian approved the purchases, so it all came from her account."  
"Eh…" Yuna looked surprised.

"I found a few books." Lavender said, "On fighting. Some different styles and martial arts there."

"Hm…" Karin was flipping through one of the books, "I guess this will do."

That girl just couldn't pay anyone a compliment, could she?  
"Well, if you want something better, you'll have to contribute." Lavender said.

She didn't want to be the only one putting in any effort. This was their world, not hers.

Lavender opened up one of the books.

"See this, Yuna? There's some pictures in here about punching and kicking. There's a way to make a punch or kick more powerful if you do it a certain way."  
"Eh? I see…" Yuna looked at the image. There was a rotation in the hips.

"I also looked at a few videos." Lavender said, "Sometimes you don't turn your body when you punch. You want to move your hips. Maybe try it out?" She suggested.

"Let's see…" Yuna put on the pink boxing gloves from off to the side.

Lavender had bought three pairs in a few different colors.

Yuna tried punching the bag a few times.

Lavender recalled what she had seen in the videos.

"Um, let met think…there's still not a lot of rotation. Also, you want to twist your fist near the end of the punch."  
"Like this?" Yuna gave it another try.

The bag really moved this time.

"Whoa! Sugoi, Yuna-chan!" Togo complimented

"Someone should probably hold the bag while Yuna-san punches." Lavender suggested, "Itsuki-san, would you be willing to do it?"  
"Eh? Ah, hai!" Itsuki agreed.

"I think it might be a good idea for you to learn how to punch properly as well, Itsuki-san." Lavender said, "When you send your vines forward, sometimes it looks like you're punching. There's a sort of follow through."

That, and Lavender still didn't quite know how to properly train her yet.

"Fighting with other people in a spar might not be a bad thing either." Lavender said, "It would improve our ability to predict what the enemy might do. A lot of fighting is mental. Just having the physical abilities isn't going to work. Mentally being able to predict what an opponent might do will help out a great deal."  
"That's actually a good point." Karin nodded.

She didn't have to sound so surprised, Lavender thought with irritation.

"Karin-san, you're good at Kendo, yes?" Lavender asked her.

"Yes. I've been training in the art of the sword my whole life." Karin said seriously.

"Do you know any kata for a single sword user?" Lavender asked her, "I think that Fu-san already knows some techniques of her own, however, you have a different style from her and it never hurts to expand the mind a little. Maybe try going through a demonstration a few times. Have her get it down, go through what each technique can be used for, and I'll start setting up Togo-san with some target practice outside."

"Alright." Karin agreed.

…

000000000000000000

…..

Togo could shoot tin cans with the specialized cork gun Lavender had supplied her with really easy.

So, Lavender tried something else.

She dressed up in her naginata garb, properly padding herself down and putting on her mask, then attached a tin can to the tip of her spear with some string.

"I'm going to try moving around a little." Lavender said, "I'll work on speed and stamina while you work on aim."  
It worked for both of them.

"Got it." Togo agreed.

She shot as Lavender moved. Lavender was glad she managed to remain unpredictable enough not to get caught every time, but Togo was skilled even without the magic helping her!

And then, their half an hour practice was up.

They headed back into the clubroom.

"Alright. Good work everyone. Our half-hour workout is over."  
"Eh? Already?" Yuna was surprised.

"Half an hour goes by in an instant sometimes." Lavender said, "We'll switch things up next time."

Lavender was always good at organization. One of the few things she ever excelled at, really.

"Let's move on to our other club activities. Fu-san?"

"Eh? Ah…right." Fu said, then took off her kendo helmet. She beamed at them, face still a bit flushed from her workout.

"Alright, everyone. Today we're helping Itsuki!"  
"Eh?" Itsuki wondered.

"Well, you were saying before. About how you thought you'd fail your music exam. You aren't a bad singer on your own, you know? But when you perform in front of other people, you freeze up. So, I think we should practice that. Let's go to karaoke!"  
"Karaoke?" Lavender repeated.

"Yeah." Fu said, looking over at her, "You don't like singing?"

"It's not that." Lavender said, "I've just never been."  
"Eh? Eh!?" From the way she reacted, one might assume Fu had just seen a ghost, "Y-you haven't…we must go! Now!"

And that was how Lavender wound up missing naginata practice.

…..

000000

….

"Hey." Karin said to Fu while they were walking home that day.

The two of them were lagging behind a bit.

"What do you think of her. Of Lav-chan?"

"Hm?" Fu looked over at Karin a moment, "Hm…tough to say. She's a bit of a mystery, you know? I can tell she takes her job as a Hero seriously. Maybe about as seriously as you do, Karin-chan." She teased her a bit.

Karin swatted her hand away with irritation.  
"Just saying…she's strange…"  
"Like there's a wall there you can't quite get past?"

Karin's attention snapped over to Fu instantly. Fu had gotten serious, her expression uncharacteristically calm.

"We've all noticed it, Karin-chan. I think she's got some trouble trusting others. But she cares for other people. That way she made us train earlier…She's been paying attention to us. I don't really know what's holding her back."

….

00000000000000000000000

….

It was nearly a month after Itsuki had passed her music test.

All the girls, save for Fu were standing in their school uniforms on the edge of a cliff in the realm of the Divine Tree.

The forms of seven vertexes could be seen, floating just outside the barrier.

Fu had gone out scouting ahead of them, just to get a good idea of what the enemy was capable of.

"They're just…sort of there. I mean, they aren't moving." Lavender was feeling wary.

Karin took a few vitamin pills out of a container she was carrying and popped them in her mouth.

"Wanna pop some supplements?" She asked them.

"Um, could you maybe not say it like that?" Itsuki said awkwardly.

"Hey." Karin's eyes traveled over to Lavender.

"What is it?" Lavender looked over at her.

"I never asked where you came from." Karin said.

Lavender opened her mouth to answer, then closed it.

"How about I tell you after the battle?"

Karin smirked,

"Alright. It's a promise. After the battle is over, you'll tell me which country you come from."

It was then that Fu came bouncing towards them, jumping from root to root.

"They'll likely attack from just within the barrier." She told them, stopping in front of them, eyes narrowed, "This is it."  
This was their final battle.

Itsuki looked nervous, then she burst out laughing when Yuna started tickling her.

"What are you doing? Yuna-san?" She jumped away from her.

Yuna grinned,

"Everything's going to be alright. We're all here with you."

Itsuki turned to look at the other girls, then smiled and turned back to Yuna,

"Right!"

"Alright! Hero Club, transform!"

They each took out their phones, then clicked on their apps.

Lavender transformed into her purple warrior garb. Now that she really looked, it sort of reminded her of her naginata outfit. Sort of. Sans helmet and far more stylized.

"I must admit, they look formidable." Togo confessed.

The vertexes still hadn't crossed the barrier yet, leaving them to continue their watch.

"On the flip side, once we finish these ones off, we no longer have to fight." Karin reminded them, "We'll be done with all this."

Once they were done…that might mean Lavender would get to move on. This might be it…her ticket back home…

Fu smiled a bit,

"Everyone, let's do that thing."

"That thing?" Karin wondered strangely.

They all started to huddle. Karin was a little surprised. Lavender had agreed to it a while ago.

"Really?" Karin looked uncomfortable, "Is that really necessary?"

"We've got to get fired up for the big fight, right?" Fu pointed out.

"Karin-chan!" Yuna invited her in, to take a place beside her.

"Jeeze…like I have a choice now." Karin said, moving to join the huddle.

"Listen up," Fu said, looking at each of them in turn, "If we get through this, I'll buy us all a meal."

Well, if they didn't get through this, they were dead, so…

"Alright! I'm gonna eat so much!" Yuna said excitedly, "Beef-topped udon and the lot!"  
"There's no need to convince me to destroy them." Karin said.

"The same goes for me." Itsku agreed, "I have a dream to fight for."

"There's someone I need to see again no matter what." Lavender said, "I'm not dying here. Neither are any of you."

"Let's do our best to protect the people and our country." Togo added in.

Fu seemed to relax slightly, then she grinned,

"Alright! Go, Hero Club!"  
"Yeah!"

They broke their huddle.

"Attack!" Karin's fairy said, then blew on a conch shell, signalling the start of their battle.

"Okay, time to bring them down!" Karin summoned her sword in hand in a blaze of red light.

"Let's go!" Fu shouted, summoning her enormous, yellow sword.

"Right!"

They all jumped off, save for Togo who stayed on the ground, ready to snipe.

Lavender noticed, as they darted forward, traveling through the air, that the vertexes seemed to be advancing at different rates.

The centipede-like vertex came at them first.

"First blood!" Karin shouted, swinging her sword down over its head. Togo hit it with a bullet at that same moment.

Karin started the sealing right away.

A large, pyramid soul appeared overtop, moving like a spinning top. Karin threw a sword at it, but it seemed to clatter away, not really doing anything.

Yuna jumped in the air,

"Togo-san!" She shouted, then punched the soul, stopping its momentum. A bullet shot through, finishing it off.

"Nice teamwork!" Fu complimented.

"Thank you, Togo-san!" Yuna waved to her friend.

Then, the most horrible sound Lavender had ever heard echoed around them.

It was a vertex! It had landed in front of them, the top of it held a bell which rang, creating that horrible noise!

They all covered their ears.

Merlin! Lavender thought her ears might start bleeding!  
"Silencio!" She shouted at the top of her lungs.

The bell was suddenly mute.

Lavender gapped.

She hadn't used a wand…How had she…No time to dwell on it!

"I'm taking these ones out first!" Fu shouted, cutting through two of the vertexes at once.

"Eh?" Itsuki wondered.

Fu jumped back when the vertexes she'd cut started to glow an angry red.

The three enemies retreated backwards.

"What's going on?" Lavender whispered.

She hadn't seen the vertexes retreat before.

They were moving back towards the giant vertex. It seemed to…open up. Like it was showing them all a fiery portal. The other three vertexes moved into it and the creature rearranged itself.

The four of them combined into a singular creature.

"No way!" Itsuki looked at it with wide-eyes.

"I didn't know they could do that." Karin looked shaken as well.

Yuna gained a look of determination though,

"That just means we only have to beat one instead of four, right?"

It was all or nothing anyways.

It started shooting at them. Flaming red beams. They all jumped off in different directions. Lavender dodged as best as she could, summoning up her fairy immediately.

Chi came to her defense, but it seemed to do little good.

Lavender was sent backwards, the flames brushed against her skin. She let out a scream.

The other girls were hurt badly as well.

This thing was too fast! It was unlike anything they'd faced before.

No! Lavender told herself. She needed to stay calm. There had to be some sort of weakness…something. Anything!

Her eyes widened when she saw Fu being hit and surrounded by a bubble of water. Was that thing trying to drown her?

Lavender jumped up towards her. Come on, come on, she urged herself.

There had to be something. Some sort of spell…Wait. Yes!

She held out her hand, wand appearing and then.

Boom!

She managed to land, her arm wrapped around Fu's waist.

Fu coughed up water from her lungs, breathing in air.

"Oh…shit." Lavender's eyes widened as an enormous ball of fire, bigger than anything she had ever seen before started forming in front of the vertex.

It was going to launch it!

"Shit, shit, shit!" Lavender cursed.

It wasn't like she swore all the time (Anyone caught swearing was automatically given a detention and there were hardly any places outside of Hogwarts where it was possible to do so without getting caught), but she thought the situation called for it.

McGonagall would probably forgive her.

"Eh?" Lavender wondered when she saw Fu beginning to glow with a radiant, golden light.

Lavender let go of her, then jumped back.

A large, flower-like shape appeared around her and suddenly, Fu's outfit had changed. She was wearing white robes, a large circle surrounded her, forming from her waist to her head.

It looked like some sort of weird, religious symbol. For all Lavender knew, it very well could be.

She seemed to move in a mere flash. Lavender hadn't even seen her travel through the space between where she'd been and the vertex. She sent the creature flying.

Another flash, but from another direction.

"Playtime is over it seems." Togo said.

She had bloomed too, wearing a goddess-like garb of white robes with blue trim and a ring around her much like with Fu.

"Now." She tied a white band around her forehead, "I'm going to commence a frontal assault on the enemy!" She held out her hand and the cannons behind her fired, shooting at the mole-creature which had been jumping in and out of the earth.

The vertex was destroyed, leaving only its soul, which Togo then blasted.

She hadn't even sealed it!

"What?" She wondered as a screen popped up in front of her, she then looked panicked, "A vertex! It's getting close to the divine tree! How didn't we notice it?" She turned her head, "This one's small…but fast!"

She fired her cannons at it.

"It dodged all my shots! At this rate…the Divine Tree will…"

She turned. They all did when a light enveloped Itsuki. A flower shape formed around her and then, she bloomed, donning goddess-like garb of white with green trim.

"I won't let it ruin our everyday lives." Itsuki said in a serious tone so unlike her, it even caused her sister to real a little, "Stay away from there!" She yelled out.

Green lights streaked across the sky, traveling so fast that Lavender once again couldn't keep up with them.

It pulled a small, humanoid vertex back towards the battlefield, then tore it to ribbons leaving only a tiny soul in its place, which was then destroyed.

But Fu was still in trouble. She wouldn't be able to hold off that fireball much longer.

She needed to help!  
And then, a light enveloped Lavender.

A flower-light bloomed and suddenly, Lavender was wearing white robes with purple trim. A large, round gem in the center, light-purple fabric went around under her arms and over her shoulders. A ring moved around her and Lavender's spear grew.  
She launched forward, trying to stop the enormous ball.

It finally dissipated.

"Let's seal this thing!" Lavender shouted.

She had more energy than Fu, so she jumped forward, cutting down through it's body.

"Start the sealing!" Karin shouted, her sword planted its self into the ground at the vertex's feet.

Itsuki joined in right away.

Light traveled upwards in a stream of flower petals.

Their eyes widened.  
"No…" Lavender whispered.

"Y-you're kidding." Karin looked horrified.

"Uso." Itsuki whispered.

It was a soul…a pyramid so big, it floated just above the earth, perhaps half the size of the planet its self!

"How the fuck are we supposed to destroy that!?" Lavender shrieked.

Yuna stood up,

"It's a soul." She said, "We can deal with it the same way we dealt with the others. No matter how big it is, I'm not going to give up! That's what it means to be a hero…isn't it?"

Was that really what it mean? Lavender wondered.

Was it what it meant to be a hero?

When she really thought about it, they only had two choices. They could just lay down and die…or they could fight until their last breath.

Lavender found herself laughing under her breath.

"Like there's really a choice."

It was like there had never been a choice at all. No. that's wrong.

There had been a choice.

That moment she met Animetopoeia. The goddess who asked her if she would like to be sent to other worlds to have her fate, and the fates of those around her changed.

These girls had never had that luxury. That choice.

But if they had, they would have done it, wouldn't they?

Lavender was starting to wonder if maybe…maybe she would have said yes even after knowing this would happen.

She wasn't just fighting the destruction of someone else's world. It wasn't like this battle had nothing to do with her.

She was fighting fate.

Maybe she had always been fighting her fate…

"Yuna-chan!" Togo said, "In this form, I can take us both up there. Are you ready?"  
Yuna nodded,

"Let's go!"

And then, they were off.

They only had to focus on the sealing.

Lavender saw the numbers counting down. Her heart was pounding.

It would work…or they'd die. If the countdown hit zero…that was it.

And then, she saw the pyramid start to crack. It burst apart, turning into sand and vanishing into the atmosphere.

From the sky came an object rocketing down.

Was that them? Was that Togo and Yuna?

Instinctively, Lavender knew it was.

Itsuki cast her vines over and over, trying to slow their descent. It seemed to be working.

"Aresto momentum!" Lavender shouted.

The flower pod…thing, slowed down and then opened up.

Lavender fell to her knees, legs wobbly. The blooming magic disappeared and she was back in her regular magical hero garb.

"Oh, Merlin." She whispered.

They were…okay.


	7. Chapter 7

**Lavender is going to continue defying her fate no matter what!  
I do not own Harry Potter or Yuki Yuna is a Hero**

Lavender frowned as the nurse drew her blood. She'd been in the hospital for an exam, just like the other girls. The Taisha group wanted then to come here and were treating their injuries, but…something was wrong.

Lavender had noticed it right away.

She couldn't hear anything.

At first, she thought it was just some joke, but she really couldn't hear.

The nurse had said it was due to fatigue from battle. But Lavender had never heard of someone going deaf because they were tired before.

Hm…she didn't know much about healing magic either. Not enough that she'd be comfortable giving herself a diagnosis.

Suspicion swirled around in her gut.

She wasn't the only one.

When she was reunited with the other girls, she discovered Fu was now blind in her left eye and Itsuki was mute.

Were Yuna and Togo experiencing similar symptoms? If so, they hadn't revealed as much.

Karin wrote something down on paper for her to see.

_You never told me where you were from._

"I'm from Britain." Lavender said.

She couldn't even hear her own voice.

She wondered if she was talking loud enough, or if she was being too loud.

It didn't seem to bother Karin.

"Could you try talking slowly?" Lavender asked her, "I want to try learning how to read lips."  
"Okay." Karin mouthed.

Lavender smiled at her.

She'd gotten that.

One baby step at a time.

The doctors had said this wasn't permanent…But something still felt wrong.

"Britain."

She repeated the word a few times.

"Where's that?"

…..

000000000000000000000

…

There was something wrong. Lavender didn't really know what it was. Tinny things that didn't really make any sense. Small things that didn't match up to the world she knew. To the world she came from.

Lavender looked up Britain, her home country on the internet.

She found references. Obscure websites that talked about legends from long ago, like King Arthur and Merlin who came from a mysterious land on a now extinct continent.

How did a continent become extinct?

"What the hell is going on?" Lavender whispered.

Although she couldn't hear her own words, she could sense the vibrations in her throat and slight change in breath that came from her moving lips.

It served as an obscure comfort to her.

She clenched her teeth, then decided to look of Taisha instead.

She kept hearing about them, all positive things.

They oversee the worship of the Divine Tree.

Lavender let out a sound of frustration.

The internet was useless!  
She drew in a deep breath, trying to calm herself.

Okay. What about a world map?

Lavender's eyes widened.

This is…

All that seemed to exist were islands…Save for China. China was bigger, but not nearly as big as it should have been! It was perhaps, the biggest landmass on the map! There was Korea, that looked mostly intact. Indonesia, Taiwan…

Oh Merlin! What happened to the Americas? What happened to Africa?

Wait.

That pattern…didn't it look like…

She pressed the print button, then waited for the map to print.

She grabbed a marker and drew a circle around the land.

Yes. It fit.

It looked like…this circle was cut off from the rest of the world. Like someone had drawn a circle around here and…the world outside that circle had just vanished!

Was that possible?

It must be…because the geography was the same…at least within that circle (to Lavender's knowledge).

She felt her hands shake a little.

If someone had formed a barrier…right along this area, then…Lavender noted the point in Japan where it all cut off. The point where they were.

She looked up another map, this time of the town she was in. She zoomed in, trying to find what she was looking for.

There!

That was the edge of the circle.

It was tied off with rope. That same rope she'd seen the spiritualists use for ceremonies or in the use of their…magic.

She hadn't thought it was real magic, but what if it was?

…..

000000000000000000000

….

Lavender stood on top of a cliff.

Just a few steps…She took a deep breath, then walked forward. The world changed around her. Lavender's eyes widened in horror.

No. It couldn't be. It couldn't…

Before her eyes was a red sky and swarms of vertexes. So many…their numbers must have been in the millions at least. Maybe the billions.

All that was protecting them was this barrier.

Lavender stepped back through and fell to her knees.

This wasn't her world. This wasn't her world…but what exactly had those girls been fighting for? And how long could they go under such harsh conditions?

Those things…they were rebuilding the ones that had died…

Maybe she wasn't the only one fighting fate.

Maybe…maybe that was what a hero did.

She felt tears fall down her face.

But that felt too cruel.

…

00000000000000000000

….

After two more weeks, summer seemed to be approaching. The Taisha group had given them all a couple of day at the beach. Lavender was slowly growing used to reading lips. It was a difficult process.

She'd started practicing sign language with Itsuki.

She knew that everyone probably thought that whatever was happening to them would be cured eventually, but after what Lavender had seen, she didn't know what to believe anymore.

If she was wrong, great. But if this was a permanent thing, then she was sure as hell going to find an easier means of communication. And Itsuki…it might be good for her.  
She tried getting Fu in on it too, but the elder sister seemed pretty sure that it would all work out and that Itsuki would get her voice back soon.

They were fed some of the best food Lavender had ever had while they were there. It surprised the other girls.

It didn't surprise Lavender all that much.

For all they knew, this could be their last meal.

Because there was a never-ending supply of enemies out there.

Not that the other girls knew that.

Lavender was still struggling with that fact herself.

This story wasn't over. That's why Animetopoeia hadn't come to pick her up yet.

….

000000000000000

…..

When they got back to the clubroom, they found a briefcase there waiting for them. Inside the briefcase were six cellphones. The cellphones the Taisha had taken from them.

"According to the Taisha." Fu told them, "Some of the vertexes survived. So, that means we're going into overtime now. Sorry, it's so sudden…"  
"You didn't know about this either until now, senpai." Togo said calmly, "It' can't be helped."  
"Togo-san is right, Senpai." Yuna agreed.

"Well, we just have to finish them off, right?" Karin said calmly, pulling a dried sardine out of her bag of snacks, "We won against an all-out attack, so what's it matter if there's one or two left?"

Or a million? Lavender kept that thought to herself.

Itsuki wrote down her response,

_Hero club's Five Tennants. Tennant Number Five: You're lively to succeed if you try!_

It was easier to read Itsuki's responses rather than read people's lips.

Lavender still felt that she missed a good chunk of the conversation. Sometimes people would turn their heads at an odd angle, making it difficult for her to see what they were trying to say exactly.

If only the world came with subtitles.

…..

000000000000000000

….

One day, while in their club room, they were checking out their new fairies. Lavender had gained a new one that looked a little like a panda with wings and a leaf on its head. Lavender decided to call it May (something told her it was a girl).

All of a sudden, their phones started going off.

Forestation Warning

The screen flashed. And the world started to change as they were enveloped by the light of the barrier of the Divine Tree.

"All we need to do is defeat this one vertex and we're done." Fu said with certainty.

But hardly anyone moved as the vertex started speeding passed them, running at top speed.

"I want to change fate." Lavender whispered.

"Eh? Lav-chan?" Fu wondered.

But Lavender couldn't hear her, and she was facing away so she didn't know Fu had spoken.

Lavender summoned her spear.

There was someone waiting for her back home. So what if she couldn't hear anymore? So what if she could never hear anymore?

She was going home no matter the cost.

"Ha!" She brought the spear down straight through the creature.  
She started the sealing ritual, then promptly eliminated its soul.

Yuna put a hand on her back and Lavender turned to read her lips.

"Good job." She smiled slightly.

Lavender dipped her chin in acknowledgement.

And then…they were no longer there. The world of the Divine Tree vanished in a glow of light. The vibrant colors of that world faded away to the sea at sunset.

"Eh?" Lavender looked around.

They weren't on the roof of their school this time.

Instead…

They were on the bridge. Well, Lavender was. She was with Yuna and Togo.

As they moved around some crates, they saw a girl so wrapped up in bandages, she could have been a mummy. Only one, grey eye was visible under all those wrappings. That and her mouth. Her lips formed into a smile.

"I could feel you fighting." She said.

Lavender didn't take her eyes off her lips.

"I've been calling out to you the whole time."  
Lavender turned momentarily. She was referring to one of them. Togo?

Could it be? Maybe the use of her legs hadn't been lost in a car accident, but somewhere else? And her memory problem?  
Could it be…was that why she had all those fairies? Three fairies…one for her legs, one for her memory.

Lavender closed her eyes, then turned back to the bandaged girl, laying in that hospital bed.

"Ah…" The girl said.

She looked upset. Then she smiled,

"Wasshi is the name of a dear friend of mine. Sometimes it slips out without my intending it to."  
Someone must have asked her a question, because she responded in a way that had suggested it.

"Yes. You see that shrine there?"  
"Like the one at school." Lavender whispered.

"Yes. It's the same one. I thought that, once you had finished fighting the vertexes, I'd be able to call out to you with that shrine."

Something else must have been said.

"I suppose…you could consider me your senpai."  
"You're like us." Lavender realized.

So, it was as she'd originally thought.

"By constantly blooming, you lost the use of your body…right?"

She just wanted to confirm it.

"I see, so you've already figured it out, then."

Lavender nodded,

"I'm deaf now. I actually can't hear anything we're saying. I can only read your lips. The other girls behind me have probably been speaking…but I've been ignoring them because…" She trailed off, "I've noticed some strange things. Not just about Taisha. About world history in general. It's all…off." Her eyes dimmed, "I've never been all that good at solving mysteries. I'm good at listening to people. I know what rumors are true and which ones are false…I've always been good at telling when someone was telling the truth, or when someone was lying. But…I often close my eyes, even when I know it's a lie. Because…I want to believe there's good intentions behind it. So…I'm going to ask you, does Taisha have good intentions?" Lavender looked up at her.

The girl stared with her one eye.

"I think so." She said, "They want to protect everyone as best they can…however…the only way they can is through the Hero system."

"And only some people can be a part of that system." Lavender finished for her, "When we bloom…we lose something. That's the cost of all that power, isn't it?"  
"Yes." Her lips said, "After a flower blooms, what do you think it does?"

"It wilts." Lavender whispered.

"Or, you could say it falls." The girl said instead, "A flower can't stay in bloom forever. It's a fleeting thing. But, let's see…Blooming allows us to take something extra of the Divine Tree's power. What we do is sacrifice ourselves to the Divine Tree for some of that power. It's always been like that. Since ancient times. A young girl who is pure will be sacrificed to the gods. That's what we are."

It made a horrible amount of sense.

"Was the Hero System always like this?" She asked her.

"No…not always." She said, "When I started out…there was no blooming, or any fairies to protect our lives. But…without blooming we could only fend them off."

She had some more questions though.

"There will be more than just those vertexes." Lavender said.

The girl looked slightly surprised.

"I know the truth." Lavender repeated, "I know I'll probably never hear again. I know…there are more enemies out there than what the Taisha might have us believe. I want to defy fate. That was my wish. I found out…something horrible was going to happen in my future, so I transferred here to defy it. I'm not done fighting yet." She said seriously.

The girl stared at her a while, then smiled.

"You don't think that by coming here you did exactly as fate planned?"

"No." Lavender said with certainty, "I don't."


	8. Chapter 8

**I didn't want to make Lavender too OOC, I just wanted to make her more relatable. I've always had issues with characters whose entire personality exclusively consisted of boobs and make-up. Lavender is a sentimental character. She's not afraid to show her emotions. She doesn't think she's strong or particularly smart. But sentimentality isn't a bad thing, neither is showing your emotions. I also think Lavender is a very brave character and her ability to find strength within herself really came out in the final battle.**

**But she was mostly forgotten and her death was played mainly for shock value.**

**I guess I'm kind of aiming to make her more of a shojou manga-style heroine here.**

**I do not own Harry Potter or Yuki Yuna is a Hero.**

…**.**

Lavender was sitting in the Hero Club room. Alone.

Or at least, she thought she was…until someone put a hand on her shoulder. She turned, just a little jumpy, then relaxed.

It was Karin.

"You know…" Karin spoke, "Sometimes, it feels like, when I'm talking to you, I'm talking to a wall?"

She actually signed what she was saying. That made things much easier.

Lavender frowned,

"What do you mean?"

"You haven't let anyone in. We've all noticed." Karin took a seat beside her, "I know we don't get along all that well…But…they're nice. The people here are nice."

Lavender signed along with what she was saying. She'd made it a habit, hoping it would help her learn the language faster.

"I…" She paused.

Should she lie?

Then again…maybe Karin was right (she'd never admit that out loud though). She was stressed enough as it was. It had been nearly a month since her talk with Nogi…

"The truth is…I'm not from this world."

"Eh?" Karin blinked.

Lavender smiled a bit,

"I'm from another dimension. An alternate reality. They say…there are an infinite number of realities out there. In my world, I was told that I was destined to die at the age of seventeen. I realized, because of this prophecy, it was likely that many other people I knew, my friends, they might meet the same end, or even a fate worse than death. I struck a deal with a goddess. In order to gain the power to defy fate, I need to survive this world for an unknown amount of time. But…it's because I'm from another reality that I realized the truth."  
"Truth…" Karin trailed off.

Well, she wasn't denying it as Lavender had been expecting.

Lavender took out a piece of paper. She drew a world map. A map of her own world. It wasn't very accurate (Lavender had never been very good at geography), but it was close enough.

"This is Japan. Here." Lavender said, "In my world." Lavender then drew a circle, "This is the area that exists in this world. I noticed…it forms a perfect circle. No one travels past the barrier lines here. That would be blasphemous." Lavender's lips thinned, "The truth is…there's a big barrier that goes around here. That's why this area is a circle."

"Then…That's the barrier of the Divine Tree…right?" Karin was getting worried now, "Why don't those other places exist?"

Lavender was silent a moment,

"Because they were destroyed."  
Karin's eyes widened.

"This was all that the Divine Tree could save, I think. Outside that barrier…is another dimension. People are warded away from going there. If they try to approach…they simply lose their will, or some invisible force or feeling makes them go away. But, it's different for us who are tied to the Divine Tree's power. If you were to go there, you'd see the truth…But I'm not sure you'd want to."  
"Why? Why, what's out there?" Karin demanded; eyes wide with fear.

"Hell." Lavender drew in a deep breath, "To be more accurate, it's a world of vertexes. Millions of them. It's also a world where the vertexes can be reborn. In other words…this is a fight where the end cannot be seen."  
"No. You're lying." But she didn't look convinced that was true.

Karin knew in her heart Lavender was telling the truth.

"That doesn't mean there isn't an end though." Lavender said, drawing attention to her again, "Only that it can't be seen."  
"What does that mean? Is there a way to stop them? The vertexes?"

Lavender bit her lower lip,

"I'm not entirely certain. I only have guesses, Karin-san."  
"But, you said…"  
"Just because I know there is a way, doesn't mean I know what that way is. Just like how I know there's such a thing as ice cream. It doesn't mean I can make it. But…" Lavender met her eyes again, "That goddess will probably take me away at some point. I…I need you to remember, after I've left, I need you to remember that there _is _an end."

Karin held her gaze a while, then huffed,

"Like I would give up."

For a moment, Lavender felt a weird sense of fondness for the girl she normally disliked.

She hadn't expected her to give up.

Maybe that was why she had told her in the first place. Karin would never give up.

…

00000000000000000000000000

…..

Sometimes, Lavender felt like she was going crazy.

Her ears wouldn't work. An important function had been cut off from her, now…now all there was, was the silence.

She'd spent months asking the girls in the Hero Club to help her learn how to lip read. She'd studied sign language.

But she couldn't count the number of times she'd thrown one of her books and sobbed. Even if she could just hear her own crying…But she couldn't, and that only made her cry more.

There'd been periods of denial. Then periods of resignation.

She wasn't the only one going through this. She needed to remember that. She needed to be strong.

But sometimes she didn't want to be strong.

Why would Animetopoeia send her to this world? This was far worse than the world she'd come from with Voldemort in it. Did she want Lavender to fail?

Lavender decided to walk down to the ocean. She stared down at the water laping the shore.

It was like watching the tele on mute.

Someone touched her shoulder. She turned to see Karin there.

Karin spoke and signed as she talked,

"You alright?"

Lavender nodded.

Karin raised an eyebrow, not believing her.

"Well, whatever."

She pretended not to care, but she did.

What a strange person.

She thrust something in Lavender's face.

Pocky?

She took the offered snack.

"I bought it accidentally." Karin informed her.

Lavender got the sense it wasn't an accident.

"But I don't want to eat anything so high in…" Calories. She didn't know how to sign it, so she spelled it.

"Thank you." Lavender opened the box and started nibbling on it.

They both sat on the edge of the stone steps

Sign language was difficult. Though, Lavender supposed it wasn't as difficult as some other languages. It was just that every word had a corresponding symbol.

Heh. She was going to have to learn a different sign language when she got to Britain. She doubted the Japanese one corresponded entirely to the English one.

Well…that wasn't too bad, was it?

It could have been worse, Lavender tried to remind herself.

"I'm still alive." Lavender said.

Karin dipped her chin in acknowledgement.

Everyone was alive…

Karin's eyes suddenly widened, and she looked up.

Being unable to hear, Lavender had become weirdly attuned to the world around her without sound. She found herself automatically looking up as well.

Fu was coming at them with a sword.

Lavender and Karin both jumped out of the way, both of them automatically transformed.

Lavender was having trouble reading Fu's lips due to her sobbing. She wasn't entirely certain Fu's words were coherent anyways.

It confused her.

Or maybe it didn't.

"I've seen a face like that before."

Lavender parried Fu's sword with her spear.

"I can't hear what you're saying, Fu-san. I can't hear you…and your sobbing is making it really difficult to read your lips. I still rely on sign language a lot to get by anyways. But…I've seen a face like that before. Something terrible happened. Or…maybe it's grief. Helplessness. You can't do anything about it and so…You're left wanting to do something. Anything. Killing us isn't going to help."  
Fu looked shocked. She took a step back.

Harry's face flashed in Lavender's mind. He'd had a similar expression after Cedric had been murdered. But she'd only just started to understand that look now, after seeing Fu's.

That grief on his face had made her hesitant to disbelieve him. It made her reluctant to side with what the Prophet had been saying about him and Dumbledore.

But now…she felt more sympathetic. Maybe even a little scared for him.

"I didn't understand, at the time. Now I feel like a horrible person for walking away from that person. We weren't particularly close, but…I don't think anyone understood at the time. I didn't understand." Lavender drew in a deep breath.

Fu crumpled to the ground, crying. Her sword vanished from her hands.

Karin moved over to Fu and gently patted her on the back, looking away awkwardly.

Fu looked up at Lavender and spoke, and signed.

"This is permanent. You won't be able to hear again. Itsuki won't be able to speak again."

"I know." Lavender said softly, "I know…or I suspected. That's why I was trying to push her to learn sign language together."  
Fu looked pained.

"I'll learn to live with it." Lavender said, "Slowly. I'm not saying it isn't difficult. It is. But there's something I need…I…In order to get it, I need to fight and…" She felt tears start to fall down her face, "I would have to fight either way. I know I would." She wiped her tears on the back of her sleeve, "It doesn't matter…if you were there or not, Fu-san. We would have all done this anyways. Don't blame yourself for the choices I made. And do you really think Itsuki-san wouldn't give the world to fight by your side? To make sure you were safe? She would."

Fu sobbed again, this time into her hands.

Lavender moved over to her and gave her a hug.

"I'm sorry." Lavender apologised, "I didn't want to warm up to any of you guys because…I figured I'd be leaving soon. Someday soon and…But that isn't really an excuse, is it? There is a way, Fu-san. I don't know what it is, but it's out there. A happy ending. I believe that completely."

She had to believe it.

Even now, with the threat of losing all ability or control over her own body, she had to have hope.

It surprised her just how strong she was.

Lavender never thought she was a strong person. She was silly and sentimental. She tried to hide her sadness, but she actually did cry a lot.

Now she hid her tears because being strong was all she had.

Lavender pulled away, out of the hug and smiled at her encouragingly.

And then, the two girls froze. Tensing up and taking out their phones.

Lavender frowned, then took out her own phone.

Forestation Warning

Shit. Another one?

Alright, well, they could always fight and just…try not to bloom. It wasn't like they hadn't fought difficult enemies before without blooming. They could do it again.

"What…" Lavender's eyes widened when she saw the red dots appearing on the map.

The upper part of the screen was completely red, there were so many.

"What the hell?"

No…No! There were way too many!

Her eyes traveled to Fu and to Karin who both were looking at their phones with horror.

"Okay." Lavender breathed, trying to calm herself down.

She just needed to keep calm…right?

It's either live or die. Live…or let the whole world die. No pressure or anything.

Lavender never thought she was a hero.

She wasn't built for fighting. She liked to read Witch's Weekly. She was girly. She enjoyed fashion and make-up. She…wasn't a fighter.

Was anyone born to be a hero?

Lavender jumped forward, she cut through the first vertex, then started the seiling. She destroyed the soul before it even had a chance.

Then the next one. And the next one.  
She worked as quickly as she could, swinging her spear around in arcs. There! She'd discovered that it was possible to kill these things without the sealing.

Ugh! It wasn't enough!

Lavender let out a small cry as one of them got a hit in. They started to swarm, but her fairy came to the rescue. Chi.

She cut through several more, running through them, and going a little faster. Faster. She needed to be faster!

She could sort of see where each soul was now, or rather, she had a feel for it.

She jumped backwards, then let out a scream as several red needles came falling down in her direction.

It was the vertex from before!

And then Karin came out of nowhere, flying towards it. Her feet planted themselves down on the shield. She had bloomed, wearing white robes with red trim and a bunch of golden arms jutted out from behind her.  
She was saying something…but Lavender couldn't make it out.

She pierced through the spear.

She then went on to the next one.

With a single swing, all the small fries were destroyed in a burst of red light.

Lavender's eyes widened.

It was shocking just how powerful any of them got when they bloomed. Then, the remainder of the minions were destroyed in a hail of swords.

Then, she fought the scorpion vertex. Its tail stung one of the magical arms. The blooming dispersed and Karin was back in her original red outfit.

But then she bloomed again.

"No! Karin!" Lavender shouted up at her.

She needed to do something. She needed to…She wouldn't just let her take this all on herself!

Lavender bloomed.

She wore her goddess-like white robes, her spear grew and her eyes glowed as she lunged towards the biggest baddy of the lot.

She'd destroy it again and again if she had to!

She let out a scream of determination, piercing its soul with all her might! Then, onto the next one.

She fought like an animal.

The second one went down. Karin bloomed again as she was smacked by the mole vertex. She destroyed it in a single swing.

Lavender defeated her opponent and her blooming ended. The sweet scent of the Divine Tree was no longer present.

Ah. She must have lost her sense of smell then. That wasn't too bad. It could be worse…She supposed she'd never have to worry about buying perfumes again.

She ran towards Karin who was falling from the sky. Both her legs were no longer useful.

Lavender caught her in her arms, both of them tumbled to the ground in the least graceful way possible.

"I can't believe you did that!" Lavender shouted at her, she felt tears clouding her eyes.

"You did it too." Karin said weakly, "We cleared the way, right? All that's left is Togo…Yuna can take care of that…"  
She might have said more, but Lavender wasn't able to catch it. She wasn't even able to catch all her hand signs.

"You lost an arm and both legs." Lavender said quietly, "I only lost my sense of smell. That's not really fair, is it?"

Karin said something, but Lavender didn't quite catch it without the signing.

When it was apparent that she was lost, Karin tapped her ear with her one good hand indicating Lavender's hearing.

"Yeah. Now I won't be able to hear all the juicy gossip surrounding me." Lavender snorted, then she started laughing.

It was the stupidest thing. Had that really been important to her?

What the fuck did it even matter now?

Lavender could sense something going on behind her. She turned to see a blazing, white light shooting towards the tree. That was…Togo? Was she trying to destroy the Divine Tree? But…it was just trying to protect them? Was it because…she was standing at the very edge of the barrier.

She'd seen the other side…hadn't she?

She wanted to end this hell the only way she could think of. By destroying everything.

She stood in front of the king of the vertexes. It was going to fire one of those enormous fireballs.

Lavender got up, only to see someone soring overhead just as the ball of fire was shot off. It was Yuna!

She punched forward, sending her fist through the fireball. A large explosion ensued.

She ran at top speed towards Togo who remained floating in the sky. Launching herself into the air nearly eighty feet! She punched the king of vertexes. It's soul was revealed, only, Togo shot an attack at Yuna.

Why?

Lavender just didn't get it.

Harry Potter's face flashed in her head again.

There was just…too much grief in the world. In both worlds. But in this world especially.

Lavender rose to her feet. She stumbled a bit.

She hurt all over. Her hair was full of dirt and sad. Her lower lip was torn. Blood seeped out of some of the cuts littering her body.

She watched as Yuna punched Togo in the face, then hugged her.

She didn't know what they were talking about. Not at this distance. But that thing's soul…it was growing fiery. Building up into a giant flaming ball.

It looked like the freaking sun!

No…how were they going to stop that?

And yet, Lavender knew, even if it was impossible, that she'd try to stop it anyways.

That was all she could do…being strong was all that Lavender had left.

She transformed into her hero attire once again.

She launched herself at it, then bloomed!

She didn't even think about what she might lose next. Her legs, her sense of taste. Maybe her vision?

It didn't matter anymore. Not in that moment.

Then came Togo who tried to stop her as well. Yuna could no longer bloom and fell. She thought Togo might have shouted out for her friend…but Lavender didn't know.

Then, Fu and Itsuki came in, both of them and bloomed as well.

Just a bit more…just a little bit more…

Then, Karin joined in.

Dying at seventeen…Had fate planned on her doing anything of real worth? Would she have helped anyone? Would people have remembered her if things had gone as they had? If she hadn't met Animetopoeia?

Probably not. She didn't think so, anyways.

Never give up.

No one here ever gave up. Those were words to live by, weren't they? Maybe…maybe if she tried…maybe she would succeed.

She let out a scream and felt her magic blaze around her. Her magic, and the magic of the Divine tree.

She was going to stop this thing.

Lavender's spear seemed to double in size. She planted it into the sun and slashed and slashed and slashed.

She thought…for a moment, someone might have been calling her name.

But she must have been imagining it because even if they had been, she wouldn't have been able to hear it.

Her clothes were being torn apart. Her school uniform replaced her hero attire.

But she still reached towards her goal. Towards the soul.

And she thought she saw someone else reach towards it too. Her fingers brushed against something, and the world went black.

…..

0000000000000000000000

….

Lavender Brown was a silly, sentimental girl. She had never been afraid to cry in front of her friends. She wanted a boyfriend; some might have called her boy crazy.

She wasn't good at school, but she tried. Studying was just difficult. She enjoyed divination though. She was proud of that. Even if other people (like Hermione Granger) ridiculed her for it.

There was no way someone like her could ever be a hero.

She'd read some of the Harry Potter books when she'd been little. She didn't think a boy her age was really like that.

Still, was it so bad to dream about a hero? People liked stories like that. About that person who stands up to the darkness and says 'no.' 'No…I won't let you hurt anyone else.'

She didn't think she was destined for greatness. She was told she would die at seventeen. Hardly an age where she might have done anything of note.

Maybe she just didn't want to be known as that silly girl who was murdered. Another casualty of war.

There was nothing wrong with being normal. If that brought her a life of love and happiness, she'd be content.

But then she'd seen Harry Potter's face.

"_He's back! Voldemort's back!"_

Trapped within the darkness of her own mind, unable to hear or see anything…She regretted not standing up for him back then. Back when everyone had believed he'd put his name in the Goblet of Fire on purpose.

Of course, he hadn't!

She regretted it…Whatever happened to him…to make that sort of face, she knew that she had contributed to it.

Maybe she felt that she deserved this. That maybe this was the least she could do.

No matter how many times she went through it in her head, she figured, maybe she could be content at least, with sacrificing her body for this world.

Ah…but that meant she'd never get to see Parvati again. Parvati…who was quite a bit like her.

And she'd never get to apologise to Harry Potter.

Although she hadn't actively shunned him, she hadn't done anything. For a while, she'd contemplated whether she was actually suited for Gryffindor.

She hardly knew him though. What good were the reassurances of a stranger?

Or maybe it might have made all the difference.

She felt something deep inside of her. Something…Her magic?

Something was attached to it. Like a thread. It shimmered with all the colors of the rainbow.

"Is that you?" Lavender wondered if she had spoken out loud or not, "You're…" She reached towards it. The connection shuddered under her touch.

"I won't hurt you." She whispered, "You wanted to protect this place…This world, right? I think I get it now. That feeling of wanting to protect something. I guess…I should say thank you. I'm stronger than I ever thought I was. I…I don't know if I'll thank you again. I'll probably go mad in this world."  
This world of no sound. No light. This world of nothingness.

"I did something for myself for once." Lavender blinked, then noticed something, "Are you…giving me magic?"

Her own magic…it was like a soft white light in her chest, but it seemed to be changing. A rainbow of color was being fed into it. It was glowing brighter. Brighter.

"You'd better walk up…Lav-chan."

"Karin?" Lavender wondered.

That was definitely her voice, but…

_Compensation has been taken._

"Eh?" Lavender wondered.

_Your compensation…will be given back. Someone else has paid the price._

It wasn't a voice. Just…something she understood.

The rainbow energy shot out from the brilliant, bright light of her own magic.

She twitched.

"Everyone else has woken up…"  
"She'll come too."  
"I'm sorry."

And then, Lavender opened her eyes.

"Lav-chan?" Karin whispered, her eyes widened.

"Karin…chan?" Lavender moved to look at the girl.

She was still a bit blurry.

"Lav-chan!" She pulled Lavender into a hug.

Lavender returned it automatically, then realized…She could move again.

"Yuna-chan woke up a few days ago, but you didn't, and…" Karin pulled away, tears falling down her face.

Lavender had never seen her cry before. She smiled,

"Ohayou, Karin-chan."

There was a knock on the door of her hospital room. Lavender's eyes widened when a multi-hair colored girl came walking in wearing a sailor uniform.

"Who are you?" Karin stood up, looking at her with narrowed eyes.

"Karin-chan." Lavender said quickly, "That's…Animetopoeia."  
"Who?" Karin looked over at Lavender.

"The goddess who sent me to this world."  
"Goddess…" Karin paled, then stumbled back and moved away as Ana approached, "Does that mean…you're going to take Lav-chan away?"

Animetopoeia smiled over at her and nodded,

"She doesn't belong in this world, after all. And she still has to fulfil her wish."

Lavender drew in a deep breath,

"Yeah…I'm…I need to go, Karin-chan. I need to make things right in my world. I have people that need to be saved. If I didn't go…"  
"Don't try to justify it!"

Lavender was shocked by her harsh tone.

"Go." Karin met her eyes, "You have family and friends waiting, right? Not like here." She paused, "This world can be saved…right?"

She was looking for reassurance.

Lavender nodded,

"I know it can. You…all of you. You can save this world. And I'm going to save mine."

"Geeze…" Karin looked away, "Don't you dare get yourself killed before I see you again."

Lavender was surprised,

"See me…again?"

Karin huffed,

"What, you don't think I'll go after you? Idiot. Stupid. Peasant."

Peasant?

Lavender's lips twitched and she found herself laughing. Tears filled her eyes. Ah. She was crying too.

Even after all that had happened…she was still a silly, sentimental girl.


	9. Chapter 9

**Onto the next world! I don't know how many people know about this already, but a new Tokyo Mew Mew is being made! Tokyo Mew Mew Au Lait, it's called. It's actually a male version, so there's magical boys this time. In honour of that, I decided the next world would be Tokyo Mew Mew! The original one, not the new one. Not a lot of people like Tokyo Mew Mew, but I think if it had come out just a little bit later, it would have been more popular. It's kind of one of those anime that just came out too soon.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Tokyo Mew Mew!**

…**..**

Lavender woke up in a house very similar to the one she'd been in before. She almost thought it was the same one. But the view outside was different.

Had Animetopoeia put her to sleep?

She heard a knock on the door and got up from the couch, giving a small stretch before finding the door.

She was dressed in her school uniform from the last world. She answered the door. A kind-looking middle-aged woman was standing there in a kimono.

"Brown Lavender-san?"  
"Um, yes, that's me." She said.

"I'm Sato Himeko." She introduced herself.

"It's nice to meet you, Sato-san." Lavender said quickly.

"I'm the caretaker your relatives hired?"

Again? Well, at least she looked a lot kinder than the last caretaker.

"Eto…I believe it was an Ana-san?"

"Yes, would you like to come in?" Lavender invited her.

"Please." She said with a soft smile.

She entered and Lavender closed the door.

"I'm assuming you didn't know I was coming?" She looked over at her.

"Well…" Lavender trailed off, "I guessed someone might be."

She honestly didn't really know what she was supposed to have guessed. She was in a new world…should she expect the worst? She wasn't sure that there could be anything worse than the last world. But, then again…she hadn't been able to imagine anything worse than Voldemort taking over Britain either.

Now she could.

Sato, or…Himeko? Last name's first in Japan. She seemed normal. Like, she didn't really know about gods, goddesses or magic.

"Well," She began slowly, "The contract I signed with Ana-san said that I'd be staying here as a live-in caretaker for approximately a year. Once the year is up, you may choose to renew the contract."  
"Um, okay." Lavender said, "That sounds good."

A lot like the last contract, then.

"You speak Japanese very well." She commented, "You look foreign though. Are you from America?"  
"No." Lavender shook his head, "I'm from Britain, actually."  
"Eh…what made you decide to come to Japan?" Himeko asked her.

Huh, so there was a Britain in this world. Well…that was a good start at least.

"Um, well…" Lavender paused, wondering if she should tell her, "It's kind of a weird story."  
It was starting to become easy, talking to this woman.

"Eh? Well, you don't need to tell me if you don't want to." She told her gently, apparently realizing she'd stumbled onto something a bit sensitive.

"No, it's fine. I…well, I guess it's just strange." Lavender said, "A friend of mine…was being targeted by a terrorist." Could she call Harry a friend? More of an acquaintance. She hardly knew the first thing about him in actuality.

She could leave out the magical part of the story, "Then, another friend of mine was killed by those terrorists. I met Ana-san sometime after that. I guess she got custody of me and…she sent me here, so that…I could learn without having to worry about all that." Lavender paused, "It really is a weird story, isn't it?"  
She looked at her with surprise,

"I'm surprised you would share something like that with me." Her face relaxed into a smile, "Well, I'm glad you can live a normal life here."  
Lavender doubted it would be normal. This world…it was probably dangerous too.

"Well, welcome to Tokyo, Brown-san." Himeko said.

"Um, you can just call me Lavender if you want, or Lav. My friends all call me Lav-chan, since that's easiest. No one can say my full name, it's kind of a mouthful." Lavender told her, "If you're going to be living here, it seems weird being so formal…"

Especially when this woman seemed so kind.  
Himeko chuckled,

"Lav-chan, then." She decided, "And you may refer to me as Himeko-san."  
"Okay. It's nice to meet you, Himeko-san." Lavender said, "I…just moved here. Quite literally. I still don't know where everything is."

She wanted to explain her not knowing anything so that she didn't get too suspicious.

"Well, let's look around together then." She said with a smile.

They started walking around the house together. They chatted a bit. So far, Lavender couldn't see any difference between this world and her own world.

But then again, she hadn't realized how different the last world had been either.

She should just do a google search on some of the big historical events she knew to see how similar or how different their worlds were. It was good to have a starting point.

She found her school trunk in the upstairs room, the bedroom. It was the same bedroom she'd had before.

It wasn't too long before Lavender realized it was spring here. It hadn't quite been spring before in their last world. At least, she didn't think so…

School would be starting in a few days.

….

0000000000000000

…

Lavender spent her days studying and looking up some things online about current events and geography.

It all looked normal.

The culture here wasn't that different from the last world she'd been in. It made it a lot easier to adapt. She also spent a lot of time listening to music.

She could hear again. She'd nearly forgotten what it was like to hear the sound of birds. To dance along to music! She took her music player to school with her, just on principle. She'd found a new appreciation for sound that she hadn't had before.

She noticed that there were a couple of foreign students in her new school. Or at least, they didn't look Japanese. That made her relax a little. Having other people who weren't Japanese meant she'd draw less attention to herself.

This school was far bigger than the last one. Like, it was huge! Despite its size, it looked relatively normal. A similar structure.

She still didn't know when that 'learning to fight' thing started to play in, but she was on guard.

Lavender found her class and took a seat near the middle. It was easier to blend in that way.

It wasn't that Lavender disliked attention. She was just feeling cautious.

The events of her last battle had left her strangely twitchy.

There was a possibility that the danger this time might come from the students themselves, or even the teachers.

Or maybe she was just being paranoid.

No. No…she wasn't going to be taken off guard!

The other students started filtering in, chatting with their friends. Lavender supposed they'd all formed their clicks in the previous years.

Had she really made the right decision?

It was too late to look back now. Animetopoeia had warned her…either she would die in these worlds, or she'd survive and gain the power to change her fate and the fates of those around her.

They all stood and bowed when the teacher came in. There was no praying to the Divine Tree this time. Lavender felt as though she were just going through the motions. Attendance was called. Once it was over, a class representative was chosen, then a nurse's aid…

Classes began, although it was mostly introductory stuff.

Lavender made sure when she got home to study some of this. She'd done pretty poorly in her last school, but this was the same grade level. She got a second chance to do it all over again, and do it a little better than she had before.

During lunch, Lavender grabbed the bento that Himeko had packed her.

"I haven't seen you before."  
Lavender turned to see a boy standing there. He had black hair and brown eyes.

_He's cute,_ she thought right away.

"Um, yeah. I just arrived in Tokyo not too long ago." She paused, "I'm Lavender. Er, Brown Lavender."  
The boy smiled,

"My name is Aoyama Masaya." He introduced himself.

He was probably just being nice, Lavender thought. One of those people that encouraged other people to approach.

Surely enough, it worked.

"Where are you from, Brown-san?" A girl approached her from her other side.

"I'm from England." Lavender answered her, smiling a little, "London, in fact."  
"Eh? Really?"

Some more students started crowding around her. Lavender noticed that the boy from before, Masaya had left.

…

000000000000000000

…

The days passed by with nothing to note. Lavender began settling in and even made friends with a couple of girls in her class.

Two weeks passed and Lavender received a letter in the mail.

It was a plain white envelope with her address on it (or, the address of the house she was staying at) and, in the corner here the return address ought to be was the name Animetopoeia.

Lavender opened it up to find a set of tickets inside to some sort of Red Data Animal Exhibit.

"Red data animal?" Lavender read it out.

"Mah, is that the exhibit that just opened up by the park?" Himeko looked over her shoulder to get a look.

"Yeah. Ana-san sent them." Lavender paused.

She didn't really have anyone to go with…She supposed there was her two friends in school, but…it didn't really seem like the sort of thing you just asked someone you just met to go with you to. And she didn't really feel close to them either.

"Would you like to go with me, Himeko-san?" She looked like she was interested in this sort of thing.

"Eh? Wouldn't you rather go with your friends?" She asked her.

"Well…I'm not sure my friends would really be interested in this sort of thing." Lavender admitted.

Himeko smiled at her warmly,

"I'm happy that you feel comfortable around me, Lavender-chan. I would love to go with you. These tickets are for tomorrow. Saturday is a good day to go, I think. You'll have to thank Ana-san for those tickets later."  
"Yeah." Lavender agreed.

Although, she didn't know how she was supposed to contact her. Was she supposed to write Animetopoeia on the mailing address like she had the return address?

Well, it couldn't hurt, she supposed.

….

0000000000000000

…

The next day at around ten o'clock, Himeko drove them down to the exhibit.

Why would Ana send them these tickets? Lavender wondered. Did this have something to do with her wish? With what she needed to learn?

She wondered if it was a good idea to bring Himeko with her. What if something bad happened?  
"You're fretting over something, aren't you, Lavender-chan?"  
Lavender looked up at Himeko suddenly. She chuckled,

"I can see it all over your face. Is this about school?"

"Maybe." Lavender lied.

She thumbed the wand in her pocket.

Himeko hummed,

"Don't worry too much about it." She said, "Changing schools, countries even all on your own can be very difficult. You're doing just fine. You'll make plenty of good friends soon. You already have a friend in me, nee?"  
Lavender returned the smile. That wasn't what she was stressing over, but she had to admit that she had been thinking about it a lot lately.

Lavender looked down,

"I just…I know I might need to leave eventually and go somewhere else…depending on my…sponsor. On Ana."  
"Hm…" She hummed in thought, "That just means you'll get to have friends from all over. Sometimes it can be scary, the feeling of being abandoned, but you'll never truly be lonely, Lavender-chan, so long as you don't forget the people who helped you out along the way, understand?"  
Lavender had a feeling she was offering her some wise words.

"Don't forget?" Lavender whispered, thinking a bit about home. She thought about Parvati, her best friend.

And then something flashed in her mind.

The woman who never smiled.

Lavender closed her eyes. She never told anyone about her. About the loneliness she'd experienced before Hogwarts…

"No one will be lonely forever if they don't want to be." Himeko told her, "There will always be someone who loves you and who cares about you. No matter where you go, you'll find them."

Lavender felt a smile forming on her face,

"Thank you, Himeko-san."  
"Of course, dear." She said, fondly.

The exhibit itself was really impressive. They had to walk through a metal detectors and security seemed unusually tight. But the pictures and displays were really well done.

"Iriomote Wildcat and her Litter." Lavender read off the bottom of the picture, "They're going extinct?"

"It's sad, isn't it?" Himeko said, "They live only on the island of Iriomote here in Japan. It says here there are only estimated to be one hundred to one hundred and eight individuals left."  
"Wow." Lavender whispered.

Here she thought wizards were a rarity. She wondered what sort of conservation efforts there were in the magical world.

With so much going on, it was easy to forget about the other fights that were being fought, outside of Voldemort and his pureblood regime.

"Eh?" She turned around.

Had that been Masaya who had just passed by?

Lavender shook her head, deciding not to think about it. She might have just been imagining things.

They were there for several hours. It was a lot of fun, actually and Lavender found she was really enjoying it. Although it was still a mystery to her as to why Ana had wanted her to come here…

They exited the exhibit.

"I'll pull the car around." Himeko told her.

"Alright." Lavender said, "I'm a bit thirsty. I might grab a drink from one of the machines."  
"That's fine. You have some time." She said.

They parted ways as Lavender started heading towards the vending machines. She pulled some one hundred yen coins, only to stop when the ground started to shake.

An earthquake? Lavender wondered.

She saw a bright light filling her vision, no, her soul!

She fell to the ground, unconscious.

While she was sleeping, she had a strange dream…she saw a cat…like, a really, really big cat walking towards her!

"I…" Lavender paused.

She should be scared…right?

So why wasn't she?

"I need to change my fate…I might not survive the trial I'm going through, but if I do…"

It jumped towards her and suddenly, it felt like their souls were merging. It was a strangely good feeling.

…..

000000000000000000

…

"Lavender-chan…Lavender-chan?"

Lavender's eyes opened up and she rolled over. She was laying on the ground.

"Thank goodness." Himeko let out a sigh of relief, "I found you passed out on the ground. Is your head okay?"  
"I…yeah, I think so." She said, "It feels fine…"  
Himeko looked her over,

"It looks like you hit your head. There's a bit of blood…Oh dear, we need to get you to a hospital, I think."  
"Um, okay." Lavender agreed. Not really sure what had happened to her.

She didn't think she had a concussion…Her head didn't hurt, after all. But, she supposed it was better to be safe than sorry. Especially if there was blood.

Himeko drove them to the hospital where Harry got her head checked out.

It really did turn out to be just a shallow wound. No concussion, just a bump that would heal within the next couple of day.

Lavender's mind wandered back to the strange dream with the big cat…thing.

Her magic felt kind of…strange.

It didn't feel wrong or anything. She just thought there was something different about it.

When she got home, she tried out a few spells but couldn't find anything wrong. All was working normally.

But she wasn't going to be fooled by that alone.

There was something different about her. And she was going to find out just what that something was.


	10. Chapter 10

**Want to get to ten chapters today.**

**I do not own Harry Potter or Tokyo Mew Mew.**

Lavender gave a yawn as she sat down at her desk. Her eyes drooped.

It was going to rain later today…Eh? How did she know that?

She looked over to the window.

There wasn't a cloud in the sky…

After attendance, Lavender conked out completely, falling asleep at her desk. She didn't wake up until the bell signalling lunch rang.

"Are you okay, Lavender-chan?" Nana, her new friend asked as she approached her desk with concern.

"It's gonna rain…" Lavender trailed off, not sure why she was voicing these peculiar thoughts out loud.

"Are you sure? The weather's nice right now."  
"Not now…few more hours." Lavender mumbled.

"Hm…you're so sleepy today. Did you stay up late last night?"

"No…" Lavender rubbed her eyes, trying to wake up, "I don't know why I'm so tired…"  
"Maybe you're getting sick?" Nana suggested.

"Maybe…" Lavender knew that wizards didn't get sick…unless it was a magical illness, "So hungry…" she got up from her desk.

She sniffed, smelling something delicious.

Their school served lunch everyday to all the students during lunch. She knew most muggle schools didn't do that. Not unless they were boarding schools, anyways.

It was all Japanese food though and Lavender was…admittedly starting to miss food from home.

But that smell though…it smelled incredible!  
She got in line, trying to figure out what it was that smelled so great.

It was the fish.

The fish?

It wasn't that she disliked fish…but she didn't like it _that_ much. The confusion was great enough that she returned to her desk without taking the remainder of the food she was supposed to get.

She started eating with her chopsticks (She was getting used to using them now).

She took a bite of the fish and her eyes lit up. She dug in until it was gone and she felt a touch disappointed that there wasn't more.

Maybe the people of this world made their fish differently?

"You must really like fish." Nana commented.

"I guess." Lavender said casually.  
She hid her fears well. Maybe she had grown used to that.

As school came to an end, it started to rain. Lavender looked up at the sky.

How had she known?

That had been bothering her all day. She'd known exactly when the weather was going to change…Even if she'd seen the forecast there was no telling the exact time it would happen.

She paused as she was putting on her shoes.  
She noticed her reflection in the mirror off to the side.

Her mind immediately traveled back to that day. The day she'd visited the Red Data Animal Exhibit.

"Could it have something to do with that?" She murmured.

Of course, it did.

She met up with Himeko who had parked out in the lot.

"Nyan." Lavender gave a yawn and got up out of bed and grabbed her clothes, taking them down the hall to the shower room.

For whatever reason, in Japan they had a room for showering and bathing, sperate from the toilets.

Well, she supposed it made a bit of sense to separate the two. But it was something she'd never really thought about until she'd started living in other worlds.

She went through her usual morning routine and found herself once again dropped off at school. She saw Masaya, from her class talking to a girl by the door.

"Eh? Your neck…" she began, "That mark wasn't there before…"  
"Hm? Oh, you mean the bruise I got from kendo?" Masaya asked her.

"Eh? Oh." She looked disappointed, "So, that's what that is…"  
What was she expecting? Lavender wondered. And then thought back to the mark she had on her inner thigh. She'd noticed the marking while she'd been bathing. It hadn't come off with water and it looked like it could have been a birthmark if not for the strange shape.

"Hey, Masaya-san." Lavender waved to him.

"Ah, Brown-san." Masaya smiled over a her.

The girl he'd been talking to looked tense and uncertain. Ah. She liked him, ey?

"Ah, sorry." Masaya apologised, "This is Brown Lavender-san." He introduced them, "She's in my class. She transferred here from Britain not long ago. Brown-san, this is Momomiya Ichigo-san."  
"It's nice to meet you." Ichigo said quickly, bowing.

"It's nice to meet you too." Lavender returned the bow, thinking they may have been a little formal.

"Masaya-san made me feel right at home in class. I was actually hoping to thank him. That's all." Lavender looked over at him, "Thank you for introducing yourself yesterday. It really helped encourage more people to talk to me."  
Masaya looked mildly surprised,

"It's not a problem at all."

"Come to think of it, I think I saw you both at the Red Data Animal Exhibit." Lavender wasn't sure she had, but she wanted to confirm something.

"Eh? You were there, Brown-san?" Masaya wondered.

"Un." Lavender dipped her chin, "My guardian sent me some tickets. It was really interesting…I don't think we're as aware of environmental issues in Britain as we are in Japan. This country seems more conscientious. Ah! Sorry, sometimes I ramble a bit. I really did just come over to thank you." Lavender gave a small, polite bow, "Well, I suppose I'll be heading back to class now. It was nice meeting you, Momomiya-san."  
"Ah, nice meeting you." Ichigo said quickly.

Lavender stifled a giggle as she left them. They really were a cute couple. They were so awkward and nervous. It was kind of adorable!

But more importantly…Ichigo had been asking about strange marks appearing on peoples' bodies. Something that had happened to her.

No, Lavender thought.  
She didn't want to get involved until she knew for certain what she was getting involved in.

She didn't want to make the same mistakes as last time.

When the school day ended and Lavender got off of classes, she turned her phone on, just in time for it to ring. Himeko had insisted she started carrying one.

Once Lavender had confirmed that, no, it was not a super-secret magical tool used to bless her with goddess-like powers, she'd reluctantly agreed.

"Lavender-chan?" Himeko's voice came in through the other end.

"Ah, yes? Is something wrong?" She asked her.

"I'm afraid the car got a flat…I'm really sorry."  
"No. It's no trouble." Lavender said with a smile, "I don't mind walking back. It's not very far away. It's probably good for me to do that once in a while anyways."

She used to walk and bus to her last school. Honestly, she was lucky she'd gotten such a good caretaker this time. She might not get one again, depending on the world.  
"Mou…You're such a good child, Lavender-chan."

Lavender felt her face heat up a bit.

"I might be here a while, but I shouldn't be out past six."

"Alright." Lavender said.

"And don't you think about starting supper, young lady." Himeko said firmly, "That's my job. You need to focus on your schoolwork."  
Lavender felt her face getting hot again,

"I-I know that."

Okay, so she still wasn't the best when it came to school and homework, but she was getting better!

"I'll see you later, Lavender-chan."

"See you later, Himeko-san." The call ended and Lavender flipped her phone shut.

She let out a sigh, then grabbed her things and made her way down the stairs. She slipped off her indoor shoes and grabbed her outdoor shoes from the locker. She walked outside and looked up at the sky.

"It's really nice out today." She thought out loud.

Come to think of it…the park where she'd fallen, that was nearby too, right?

Lavender stopped walking and decided to veer off course a bit. She started making her way down to the park instead. There were a lot of trees surrounding the road, one would think they were walking through the forest.

It wasn't a very long walk, and soon she was where it had all started.

There was nothing unusual…She thought back to that day.  
She was by the vending machines…and then there was a bright red light…

She turned around. The light had come from…that direction. That café.

It looked girly. It had the appearance of a castle with a pink roof, white brick walls, pink trim and heart shaped windows.

It was pretty disarming, and more froofy than Madam Puddyfoot's!

But, then again…it was cutesy enough that even she wouldn't suspect it at first, and she was actually looking for something suspicious.

Lavender tensed. There was something…something causing some strange pressure…

She looked around, not seeing anything. She started walking down another pathway lined with trees. There was a patch of fog for some reason in the circle of concrete where the pathway led.

"What's that?" Lavender whispered.

She could see something moving. Something really big. All her muscles tensed and the hair on the back of her neck bristled.

Her eyes widened and she jumped on instinct.  
"W-what the heck!?" She yelped as he flipped through the air and, astonishingly landed on a nearby tree branch.

Okay, so…she was used to having that sort of ability from her fights against the vertexes. But she shouldn't have her Hero powers anymore!

Lavender jumped up again as something came down on the tree branch she'd been on. The branch had been broken, splintered pieces of wood traveled through the air. She landed on both his feet after twisting her body through the rubble.

Okay. This was puzzling.

She felt something inside of her start to throb. She put a hand to her chest.

Not her heart…her magic was doing that.

"Okay…" She whispered, instinctively reaching inwards.

If her magic wanted out so badly…then she'd let it out!

Light exploded out of her body and…she started to change.

Her clothes vanished, being replaced by a purple bodysuit. A white robbed sleeveless top appeared over her upper body, then a black chest plate overtop of that. Dark purple fabric wrapped over her arms, hardened armor on the top part. But where the flower design was over the top of her hand, there was now nothing. Nothing to indicate blooming was possible. A short, purple pleated skirt that went over the top up to her breasts and tied in a bow at the front appeared over that. She had tight, black capri-tights underneath that went down to her knees. Her shoes were flexible and fabric-like. A purple ribbon traveled up her right leg, tying into a bow where a flower pendant appeared in the center.

Then…a tail elongated out of her spine, her ears moved up, becoming big and poufy, and animal-like (cat-like?). Lavender had become especially conscious of her ears since regaining her ability to hear. Her hair became white (unlike before).

"What in the world?" She wondered.

Her eyes narrowed.

At least now, she knew exactly what she needed to do.

She held out her hand, focusing on her will to fight. Her spear appeared in hand although…it felt different this time for some reason.

No time to dwell on it now!

She jumped up again as fire seemed to travel over the earth, scorching it.

Not good, if the trees caught fire, then…

The thing, and now that the fog had cleared, it looked like…like some sort of giant feline creature. It was as big as a house with black fur and flames traveling down the sides of its fur. Its eyes were pure red.

Lavender paused.

This wasn't like a vertex.

"Eh?" Her spear changed, turning into a staff. It glowed a little, humming with energy.

Her eyes narrowed at the creature and she quickly swung down her staff, creating a blizzard of ice and snow.

The beast let out an ear-wrecking shriek before its body glowed. Then it shrunk down, changing, until it was nothing more than a cat…and some weird, floating jellyfish creature.

Lavender landed on the ground. She frowned as she watched the jellyfish thing try to fly away.

"I won't let you go so easily!" Her staff transformed back into a spear.

She jumped into the air and brought it down in an arc, cutting it cleanly in two!

She flipped, landing once more and swinging her spear around.

She shifted back into her regular clothing. Her ears and tail vanished.

She oved over to one of the benches. She just…needed to sit down a moment.

Drawing in a deep breath, Lavender saw it. Just for a moment. That magic that was deep inside of her.

After all that had happened…being trapped inside her own body, she sort of knew how to just…reach her magic (it wasn't like there had been anything better to do at the time).

She wondered if other wizards or witches could feel their own magic the way she could. Then again, not many had been trapped inside their own bodies the way Lavender had.

She could see something different about it. In hindsight, she probably should have done this before, the moment she'd felt something off.

Her magic was glowing, like starlight. But there was something else in there as well. A rainbow hue that could only be seen at the edge if really scrutinized.

The Divine Tree had touched her magic. She hadn't realized it had left her just a little bit different than she'd been before.

But there was something else in there too. It felt wild. Something inside of her…making her that much stronger. Something had tied into her magic.

Whatever it was…it was animalistic. It had mutated her somehow.

But what was the point? Why would someone do that?

Lavender opened up her eyes, then looked down at her lap.

The obvious answer? Someone wanted her to be their soldier. Again.

She felt tears cloud her vision. She brushed them away. Lavender didn't want to go through all that again. It was just…it was so terrifying! Looking out at that world of fire and…Hell. That was what it had been.

And that magic had taken a terrible toll on her body. Sure, she was healed now, but what if the same thing happened again?


	11. Chapter 11

**I have another Animetopoeia story I've been working on. I think I might publish it soon.**

**So, Lavender has been through a big trauma and she's trying to come to terms with what happened in the last world. This world is different. I wrote this part of the story before I wrote the last part and I had to change a lot of stuff up. Since this world is a little milder and isn't in as much of a dire situation as the last world, I'm going to try focusing more on Lavender's character development and her trust issues.**

**I do not own Harry Potter**

…**.**

Lavender woke up that Saturday morning. The incident at the park was still playing through her head.

Something was going on in this strange world. Whatever it was it involved those jellyfish things which seemed to fuse to animals.

"Now I've got cat appendages…huh?" Well it wasn't like they came out all the time, but they probably were activated through emotion. Her magic had always been sensitive to emotion, but it seemed more so now.

Something in this world had made her change…

She sat up suddenly. Whatever it was, it started off in that park.

She got up out of bed, coming to a decision.

"Eh? You're leaving, Lavender-chan?" Himeko asked her.

"Yeah." Lavender said, "I'll back for supper, I think I want to do a little more exploring. Tokyo is so big!" She tried to sound enthusiastic. It seemed to come out okay.

"Well then, have fun." She said, "And if you run into trouble, call me and I'll pick you up right away."  
"Okay." Lavender gave her a smile before moving to the door and walking outside.

She needed to explore, just for a bit. Whatever was going on…

She started her search. She didn't know exactly what she was looking for. Maybe a place with a lot of animals? That seemed to be the target, right?

Those jellyfish things took over animals and turned them into monsters. Reason dictated that something like that would happen again.

She decided to go to the zoo, only to find it closed. There were a few people around the barricades.

"Excuse me, sir?" Lavender called the guard over, "What exactly happened here?"

"Hm? You didn't hear?" The man asked him, "This…well, it's hard to explain really…"  
Lavender knew then that she'd been right in her reasoning.

"This giant monster appeared. Right out of nowhere. We don't know how it was stopped. It's been all over the news though."  
"Oh." Lavender said quietly.

That meant…either someone had used their own weapons…or there was someone else out there like her. Reason dictated that if you had the ability to make a super-powered magical soldier that you make more than one. Not all of them would be completely compliant to the cause, after all.

"Well, I guess kids your age don't pay much attention to the papers, huh?"

"Not really." Lavender admitted with a blush, "I probably should, though. Thank you."  
"No problem." He waved.

How had she missed the very obvious solution of just looking at a newspaper? How embarrassing.

But that meant that these creatures weren't an ordinary occurrence in this world. Either this was a new development, or it was being covered up.

Lavender continued her trek, only to freeze.  
The air had grown heavy. Just like it did the last time…

Lavender turned to look over at the wall to the zoo. She heard a roar break the silence. Looking around and realizing there was no one there, she jumped up, grabbing onto the wall, then hoisting herself up.

She jumped down into the bush and allowed her magic to burst out in a glow of light.

When the light cleared, she was dressed back in her magical hero outfit.

She jumped into the clearing and started running towards the disturbance.

This time it was a giant gorilla with white fur and blue edgings.

She summoned her weapon, this time it appeared as a staff first.

The gorilla lunged forward, but Lavender swatted his giant hands away with the staff, spinning it around, then jumping in the air, flipping overhead.

Ice burst out. It seemed to have a purifying property that she hadn't picked up on last time.

Ice that purifies. Purifying ice.

This power wasn't coming from the Divine Tree, but it seemed instead to come from her other power.

Interesting. Whoever had designed this system didn't want her to kill, just…purify.

Wait.

If those jellyfish things attached themselves to animals, what stopped them from fusing with humans? That would lead them to take themselves out! They'd all end up killing each other…To create a magical purification system made sense, then…

Lavender narrowed her eyes, pouring more magic into it, until it began to glow, shrinking down into a regular gorilla. A jellyfish creature appeared. Lavender leaped forward and sliced it expertly, staff transforming into her usual spear.

She let out a sigh, then blinked when she felt two hairy arms pull her into a hug.

"U-um…y-you're welcome." Lavender squeaked out.

She knew the gorilla was trying to thank her, but…there was a freaking gorilla hugging her!

Lavender mentally hit herself. She'd fought vertexes…gorillas were not that scary in comparison.

Lavender stilled a while, and then the creature let go. She released a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. She smiled at the gorilla,

"Well, I'll be seeing you again sometime, probably." Lavender said.

She wondered if it understood her. The other animals seemed excited by what had happened. One of the panda bears, which had broken out of its cage, made its way over to Lavender and gave her a hug as well, then started playing with her hair.

"I…really should go…" Lavender trailed off awkwardly.

She was technically trespassing…

…

0000000000000000

….

Another day of wandering around town had gotten her nothing. So, on Sunday, she decided once again to return to the scene of the crime. The park.

"Nothing unusual…" Lavender was starting to think she was going to get nowhere…again. When she caught sight of someone familiar.

Wasn't that Masaya's girlfriend?

She was dressed in a red maid outfit with a cute, frilly headdress.

Another girl dressed like her, although in a green outfit, rather than red was sweeping up leaves behind her.

That at least confirmed what Lavender had already suspected. If Ichigo was working here and she was looking for people with strange marks on their bodies, that meant the two were likely affiliated. This café wasn't just a café. Ichigo was involved. Was she like her?

Lavender couldn't sense other people's magic, she was only in-tune with her own, but she kind of wished she was. Was that even possible?

Deciding to brush away that peculiar, somewhat improbably idea, she decided to approach.

A pretty blond woman got there first, walking up to the two girls and the two started freaking out.

"Momomiya-san?" Lavender asked her.

"Eh? Ah! Brown-san!" She looked relieved, "P-please help me! I can't understand a word she's saying!"  
Lavender looked over at the blond woman,

"Can I help you, miss?" She asked her in English.

She supposed she could be French or Germain…but thankfully, she understood him, speaking with an American accent.

"Oh, thank goodness." She looked relieved as well, "My name is Mary McGwire. I'm here looking for Mister Ryo Shirogane."  
Lavender nodded,

"I see." She then looked over at Ichigo and spoke in Japanese, "This woman's name is Mary McGwire. She's looking for someone named Shirogane Ryo-san?"

"Ah!" Ichigo said, "He's inside the café."  
Lavender repeated what she said to Miss McGwire. She then looked at Ichigo,

"Alright, lead the way Momomiya-san."

"H-hai!" Ichigo agreed readily.

She and her friend led Lavender and Miss McGwire inside the café. It was just as cutesy on the inside as it was on the outside, Lavender noted.

Despite that, it wasn't really too her tastes. It looked just a little too juvenile, like something a doll might live in.

"Brown-san…was it?" The girl in green looked over at her, "Would you like some tea? I mean, since you're here already and you helped…"  
"It will be on us." A boy with long, brown hair tied back in a ponytail came out of the back room, a smile on his face.

Ooh! He was really cute! Lavender thought.

"Miss McGwire." He spoke in English, "We've been expecting you."  
Another boy with blond hair, around the same age as the boy with brown hair came out as well.

Damn. Another cutie.

"I am Ryo Shirogane, it's a pleasure to meet you." He said politely.

The man with brown hair looked over at Lavender,

"You helped translate, right?" he asked her in Japanese.

"Um, well, I happened to be passing by, and Momomiya-san and I attend the same school together." Lavender explained.

"Eh…" A girl in a maid outfit like Ichigo and her friend got up from her spot at the table. Her outfit was blue.  
She was really pretty, Lavender thought. Her black hair was tied up in two buns. She seemed to have been drinking tea.

"So there are foreign students at Ichigo's school too? I didn't expect that."

"I think there are a couple of others." Lavender said, "Other than me, I mean."  
"Hm…I suppose they're more common at my school." She said, "You get the rich diplomat sons and daughters going there."  
"Oh, that's right." The girl in green flushed, "Minto-san goes to a fancy prep school and…um…"  
"I see." Lavender said. She kind of got a snobbish feeling off of her. Then again, she had nothing on Karin-chan. She couldn't help but make a bit of a comparison.

"Are you here because of your parents work, then?" the girl, Minto asked her.

"Ah, no." Lavender shook her head, "My parents…well, I'm here because a sponsor sent me here. It was a good opportunity, and a chance to learn abroad."  
"Ah, I see!" The girl in green said curiously, "Then…you're really smart, Brown-san?"  
"Ehe, not at all, actually." Lavender admitted, "I just happen to have a weird knack for languages. I was attending a school for gifted kids a while ago. But I'm no good at normal subjects."  
"Eh…" It was clear that the green girl didn't really understand, "Ah! I'll get you that tea!" she said suddenly, rushing off to the kitchen with a blush on her face.

"Um, I guess I'll just sit here. I hope I'm not inconveniencing you with your guests." Lavender said awkwardly.

"Not at all. You've really helped us." The boy with the brown hair said honestly.

The woman Lavender had guided in earlier had sat down at the piano. She started to play. Lavender was immediately taken aback by the music.

It was beautiful…she'd hardly heard anything like it before.

She closed her eyes as she listened, only opening them when the girl in green put a cup of tea in front of him.

"Thank you." She said quietly.

She was so grateful every day for getting her hearing back.

She lifted the cup and took a sip. It was still a bit hot, but she got a good taste. It was very good…

"That's tasty." She said without thinking.

"I thought you might like the earl grey." The girl in green shifted nervously.

"I do. It's really delicious. Thank you." Lavender said.

She could tell this girl was a little like Itsuki. A little withdrawn and awkward around strangers.

The piano came to a stop and they all clapped their hands. Miss McGwire smiled,

"Thank you very much."

The man with the brown ponytail spoke,

"Ryo said that he's going to run a party next week." He explained. He held his hand out to Miss McGuire, "He hired her to play at the party."

That made sense…sort of. Lavender tilted her head to the side curiously. They brought in their own piano player from abroad. They must be pretty wealthy…Although this place had good tea, she doubted they made their fortune from that.

It seemed a little strange.

"Party?" Ichigo repeated.

"That's right. We would like to thank you girls for helping out at the store."  
Wasn't that their job though? Lavender wondered. They were getting paid for this, right?

She looked down at her tea.

All these peculiarities seemed to keep adding up…

"We want it to be a gorgeous and elegant party." The man with the ponytail continued upon seeing the bewilderment written on the girls' faces.

"We have prepared wonderful dresses for you all."  
Dresses too? Lavender wondered.

"Um, does that mean that Shirogane-san is going to be the host?" The green uniform girl looked hopeful.

The blond boy then shook the pianist's hand.

"See you at the party." He said in English.

"See you there." She responded. She got up as the blond boy walked off and made her way over to the three girls.

"Ah! Sh-she's coming!" Ichigo started freaking out, "No! English…I cannot speak!"  
Lavender tried not to laugh at her plight as she floundered about.

She took Ichigo's hands,

"Ichigo, I would love to play the piano for a pretty girl like you."  
Lavender quickly translated, repeating what she said.

"Eh?" Ichigo said, then blushed, "S-she really said that?" She looked down shyly.

She let go of Ichigo's hands and moved towards the doors,

"Goodbye." She said, walking off.

She exited the café, leaving them along.

"She kind of has the charm of an adult." The girl in green commented.

"Ryo fell in love with her performance." The brown-haired boy said, approaching the group, "He says he feels a pure spirit. I feel the same way."

"Her playing was pretty incredible." Lavender spoke up, agreeing with him, "I've never heard anyone play the piano like that before."

She smiled a little, realizing it wasn't just the song…the player had really made the experience great.

There was something about this place…Lavender's instincts were screaming at her. She didn't know what it was yet, but…it was definitely something.

…

000000000000000000

…

She didn't find another monster until the next day. It was a seagull this time. Lavender managed to defeat it with another good attack. She transformed back in an alleyway and walked out casually out the other side.

There, she encountered Ichigo of all people.

"Momomiya-san?" Lavender wondered as she nearly crashed into her.

"Eh!? Brown-san? What are you doing here?" She stuttered out.

"Um…just going for a walk." Lavender said, "I haven't seen this part of Tokyo yet…Well, I haven't seen many parts of Tokyo yet." Lavender admitted, "There's just so much…Ah, anyways…" She trailed off, noting Minto and the girl in green from before running towards her.

"You guys look like you're in a hurry." Lavender said, "I won't hold you up. See you at school, Momomiya-san." She waved her goodbye.

"R-right! See you at school, Brown-san!" Ichigo ran off into the alleyway with her friends.

Lavender frowned, thinking back on things.

That café definitely had to be involved in whatever was going on. But were they the good guys or the bad guys?  
Well…somehow, she couldn't imagine Ichigo being one of the villains.

Instead of walking off, she pressed her back against the brick wall and tried to listen in.

"Eh? I thought you said it was right here, Masha." Ichigo whispered.

Masha? Lavender wondered.

Then, an unfamiliar voice spoke,

"Gone. Gone."  
"Gone?" Minto repeated.

"Disappeared." The voice, Masha told them.

"Like, it ran away?" The girl in green said uncertainly.

"No. Gone. Vanished. Defeated."  
"How's that possible?" Minto wondered. Lavender could hear the frown in her voice.

"Is it possibly…another Mew Mew?" The girl in green guessed.

Mew Mew? Lavender repeated the words in her head.

The café they worked at, it was called Café Mew Mew. Maybe there was a deeper meaning to the name than she'd originally believed.

Lavender started walking away quietly, trying not to be heard. She turned a random corner and continued her walk, wondering what she ought to do with this information.  
Should she confront them?

That might be too dangerous though…She bit her lower lip.

She had time to think on this. For now…she'd wait a bit, maybe scout out that café again.


	12. Chapter 12

**One more chapter to wrap things up for the evening.**

**I do not own Harry Potter**

"It happened again." Ichigo whined as she entered Café Mew Mew with her friends. She plopped down in one of the chairs.

"What did?" Keiichiro asked the group of girls.

"Someone defeated the Chimera Anima before we did." Minto explained, "At least, we think they did."  
Keiichiro paused while in the process of decorating the strawberry shortcake he was working on.

"You think it's another Mew Mew?" He asked them.

"Masha said, when we got there that the Chimera Anima was defeated." Ichigo explained.  
Keiichiro went quiet. He knew that there was something going on, what with the Chimera Anima popping up then vanishing the way that they were.

"It sounds like a Mew Mew who woke up on their own." Ryu said seriously, entering from the back room.

"That's possible?" Minto asked him.

"It is." Ryu confirmed.

"Then…that means…" Ichigo trailed off.

"Well," Keiichiro said with a smile, "If you continue to fight Chimera Anima, you should come across them eventually, nee?"

"We must have missed them by seconds." Retasu murmured, "I mean, Masha was saying just moments ago that it was there."  
"Seconds…" Minto repeated, her eyes narrowed, "There was someone we did meet there, remember?"  
"Eh?" Ichigo wondered.

"You think you saw them?" Ryu raised an eyebrow.

"Maybe." Minto said, "Brown-san was there."  
"Brown…" Ryu trailed off.

"The girl who translated for McGwire-san?" Keiichiro recalled curiously.

"She does go to your school, doesn't she, Ichigo?" Minto said simply.

"Yeah…" Ichigo trailed off, "She seems like a kind person. I think she's in Aoyama-kun's class."

"Well, you've got the perfect in, then." Minto smirked at her.

…..

00000000000000000

…

Lavender was reading a book at her desk and eating as she read. She wasn't that behind in her studies, thankfully. The curriculum here seemed to be pretty much the same as in the other world. The only differences were world history and Japanese history. Himeko had been pushing her to work hard, she seemed to really care. Something that had come as a surprise to Lavender who wasn't really used to adults caring about her.

She put in a little extra effort. She'd covered all this stuff last year…even though she had missed a lot of school due to the physical ailments she'd attained through blooming.

It was still very familiar to her. This year was even easier, since she was at a lower grade level this time around. Had that been done on purpose? It may have irked her a little that Animetopoeia thought Lavender couldn't keep up with her own grade level (she thought she'd been doing all right, considering she hadn't been used to the material at the beginning).

"Hello, Masaya-kun!"

Lavender looked over at Ichigo who had come to Masaya's class

"Momomiya-san…" Masaya was surprised.

"I was wondering…if I could sit with you for lunch." She said with a grin, "I brought sweets!"  
"That's really thoughtful of you." Masaya said, blushing a bit.

Her eyes traveled over to Lavender.

"Ah, I'm going to say hello to Brown-san." She told him, "Be right back!" She scuttled over to Lavender, who was a little surprised by the attention.

"Hi, Brown-san." She said with a grin, "How are you?"  
"I'm doing alright." Lavender said, "Yourself?"  
"Good…are you not eating with your friends, Brown-san?" She asked, a little concerned.

"Ah, well, Nana-chan had a club to go to and she asked Chiyo-chan to fill in, so I'm alone today. I thought I'd take the time to review for the test tomorrow."

"Eh…" Ichigo trailed off, "Well, thank you for your help before with McGuire-san. It was really helpful."  
"Don't mention it." Lavender waved away, "I just happened to be passing by. We seem to run into each other a lot, don't we?"

"Yeah." Ichigo chuckled.

Hm…Lavender wondered if maybe Ichigo was suspicious of her. She was certainly acting that way. After running into her in that alley, of course she'd be suspicious.

"Anyways," Lavender said, "How's that job you're doing, Momomiya-san?"

If she came to scope out Lavender, then Lavender would do the same.

"It's going pretty well." She said, "The people there are really nice. I've made a lot of friends there too."  
"That's good." Lavender nodded, "Those two guys you're working for are pretty cute. I know you've only got eyes for Aoyama-kun, but…"

"Aha…really?"  
She'd noticed it, Lavender smirked, but she was pretending to be oblivious for Aoyama's sake. The boy who was sitting not far away and could probably hear them.

"Well, I'm not really interested in a relationship." Lavender said with a shrug, "I have someone waiting for me back in Britain."  
It was a lie, but it was the excuse she planned on using in case anyone asked her out. She'd noticed some boys checking her out. She did stand out a bit, and she wasn't afraid to acknowledge that she looked adorable. Especially in her new uniform. The uniforms here were even cuter than the ones in the last world.

"Eh? Really? A boyfriend?" Ichigo latched onto the subject, "What's he like?"

Eh? What's he like?

Lavender mentally floundered around, trying to come up with an answer.

She was no good at lying.

And then, something flashed in her mind. An image of a boy with messy hair and green eyes.

"He's…a kind person. Brave too. Ridiculously so." She paused, "But I've never seen him be mean to anyone. Save for bullies. He's no push-over, you know? But even when things are difficult for him, he always does the right thing without fail."

"Eh…He sounds like an amazing person." Ichigo said with genuine admiration.

"He is." Lavender said oddly.

She shook those thoughts away, deciding to change the subject again.

"You know, you have quite the guy yourself. Aoyama-kun is a kind person. You know he really likes you, right?"  
"E-eh!? R-really?" She stuttered out, blushing.

"He's tracing your face with his eyes right now." Lavender wondered why it was people could never tell when the person they were interested in liked them back.

It seemed quite obvious to her that Masaya liked Ichigo. It wasn't just her who had noticed either.

"Quite hanging out with me, go over there and eat lunch with him. He's waiting to eat with you, you know?"  
"Eh? Ah…" She looked like she wanted to say something more.

"I've got some studying to do." Lavender gave her a wink.

Ichigo blushed, realizing she was being dismissed,  
"Eto…than you, Brown-san. I'll talk to you later, nee?"

"Sure." Lavender agreed as Ichigo left her to her studying and food.

…..

0000000000000000

….

A couple of days passed by and Lavender found herself wandering back over to Café Mew Mew during the evening.

As she predicted, the party they'd been planning was taking place.

She could see people dressed up in gowns and suits dancing around. It really did look high-class.

"Kind of romantic…" Lavender whispered.

It was the sort of party she could only dream of attending herself.

She jumped up onto one of the nearby buildings, trying to get a good vantage point.

It was unlikely anything would happen, Lavender thought. Spying was patient work. Something _could_ happen. It was just a bit unlikely that she'd get to see it. Especially now when all this was public.

"I should have come here when they were closed…" She murmured.

Oh well…that was her bad.

She was about to leave, feeling foolish for even going, but then the air got heavy.

She looked around, and then spotted it. A person. Floating in sky!

Lavender's eyes widened when, as she looked a bit closer, it became apparent that their ears were pointed and elven.

He was dressed strangely too. Was he a Mew Mew? Er, if that was even what they were actually called.

She could feel the hair on the back of her neck stand on end again.

Ichigo walked out, she seemed upset over something, but the strange, floating being spoke, causing her to turn around and bristle as well.

She shouted something and then…

He attacked the woman below them. The piano player from before. She froze in place as the strange energy hit her.

Lavender tensed. Should she jump in?

The strange being created from the pianist…it was like those other things Lavender had fought, only it was definitely more powerful. It was incredibly fast. Ichigo had transformed into a pink dress, red boots and gloves. She had black cat ears and a tail, like Lavender. Only, Lavender's ears and tail were white.

Then, Minto and the girl in green joined in. Minto seemed to be part bird as opposed to a cat. The girl in green…she didn't know what animal she was.

The humanoid cheetah that the pianist's soul had turned into was far faster than them though. She was running around and attacking faster than they could keep up. They only barely managed to fend her off. But there was only so much good reflexes could do for you. She started playing her keyboard. Its broken song was causing them great trouble.

The wind was whipping around the creature.

Lavender transformed.

She jumped over the buildings and summoned her staff.

"Haaa!" She sent a wave of ice in the creature's direction.  
The attack hit the creature from above.

The three girls all looked up at her.

"Quickly, now's your chance!" Lavender shouted down at them.

"Ah, hai!" Ichigo said. In her hand appeared a heart-shaped object with a bell in the center, "Strawberry bell!" She spun around into the air, "Ribbon Strawberry Check!"  
The bell glowed and the light seemed to hit the creature.

Alright, well…that seemed to be that.

"Oh…another kitty cat joins the fray?"  
Lavender spun around, moving her staff around, but all in vain as the elf moved back.

"Interesting…" The elf hummed, "I suppose I'll be playing with you too from now on, kitty cat."  
Lavender bristled at the taunt.

Then the elf faded away into the air, vanishing.

Lavender lowered her staff, realizing she didn't need to fight anymore. She sensed the three girls jump up onto the roof behind her.

"You're like us, right? You're a Mew Mew." Ichigo said.

Lavender stilled for a moment, and then…she took off.

"Ah, wait!" Ichigo shouted out.

To the three girls, it looked like she'd vanished.

"She's gone." Minto said, "You think that was Brown-san?"  
Ichigo hesitated a moment,

"I don't know. But…is it was, then why would she run away?"

….

00000000000000000000000

…

Lavender let out a sigh as she made her way through the park. It was the day after the incident and so far nothing weird had happened

No one from Café Mew Mew had come to her door or anything…They might not have seen her face in the dark, but they probably suspected.

Ichigo was like her. The girl in green, and that other girl, Minto. They were magical heroes, or Mahou Shojou (that was the definition used in anime, right?).

Lavender took a seat at one of the benches, only to hear clapping coming from over in the clearing.

"A child's performance?" Lavender heard a familiar voice.

"Eh?" Lavender turned to see Ichigo sitting on the bench to her right.

"EH!?" Ichigo got up and pointed at her.

"Momomiya…san?" Lavender blinked, a bit surprised to see her again.

From the look on her face…she definitely hadn't been following her. How did they keep meeting each other like this?

"B-Brown-san!" Ichigo shouted, "What are you doing here?"  
"Exploring…" Lavender trailed off.

Ichigo seemed to calm down, her grey eyes staring at her.

She was trying to discern whether or not she was the person she'd seen last night.

Well, there was no real use hiding it anymore.

"E-Eto…Brown-san…" Ichigo tried to speak.

"I don't really know what you're involved in." Lavender began, causing Ichigo to tense up, "But I don't get involved with shady people without having all the information first."  
"E-eh? S-shady people?" Ichigo stuttered out.

"That café." Lavender said calmly, causing Ichigo to tense up, "And those other girls. Mew Mews…I think you called yourselves."  
"Ah, I…" Ichigo looked slightly panicked, but then, "You were… the Mew Mew from last night?"

Lavender dipped her chin,

"There's little use hiding it. I'm sure you're trying to discern whether I'm like you or not. I doubt you'll stop until you have the truth. But…" She looked up at Ichigo, "Be careful. Magic like that has to come from somewhere. If it comes from the wrong place…there can be consequences to the user."

"Consequences?" Ichigo whispered.

Lavender hummed,

"There are some people who are born with a special sort of energy inside of them. Something we call 'magic.' There are others who are bestowed such abilities from other entities. I've heard of such cases where a person is granted magic that slowly sacrifices their body when used in large amounts. I once used such a power and went deaf. It was temporary, but…the only reason I didn't lose my hearing permanently was due to a fluke."

Ichigo's eyes widened,

"But…that's…Brown-san…who exactly are you?"

"I'm a magic practitioner." Lavender answered her question calmly, "A natural-born magical practitioner. My mother is a witch and my father was a wizard. Needless to say, I was surprised when a foreign magic began mingling with my own without my permission. That's your…Mew Mew magic."  
"So…you're a Mew Mew too." Ichigo said.

"Yes." Lavender nodded, "I figured it would be best to just get to the point. Café Mew Mew. Why did the people working there inject a foreign magic into our systems? What's their goal?"

"E-eto…" Ichigo began, she seemed to struggle to come up with a proper answer.

"Hello!" The girl who had been performing in the square jumped up from behind Ichigo's bench.

Ichigo let out a scream of surprise,

"Oh gosh, you scared me!" she said to the girl.

She looked about eleven, Lavender thought, like a Hogwarts first year.

"Now then." The girl gave a little dance, "Jajajaja, come, gather around, gather around!" She flipped in the air backwards and landed in a one-armed handstand on top of a ball.

How had she done that? Lavender wondered with bewilderment. For an ordinary human, that was pretty impressive.

"I'll start riding the ball." She said, moving around by using her arms to roll the ball around.

Ichigo started clapping, watching the performance with amazement.

"I'll rotate plates now!" The girl said happily, rotating plates on top of sticks as she continued balancing on the ball.  
"Oh…" Ichigo's mouth fell open slightly.

Lavender was entranced by the performance as well.

She pulled her shirt up over her stomach, revealing a painted face. She took out some feathers holding them behind her back.

"A plucky act now." She danced around, "And…breathing fire!"  
How had this girl not been scooped up by a talent agency already? Lavender wondered as she continued.

When the act was over, she stopped and looked at Ichigo expectantly,

"How was that?" She asked her.

"It was amazing! Incredible!"

"Really?" She pressed.

"Yeah! Now…" Ichigo got up off the bench and picked up her groceries. She started walking away. Only for the girl to appear in front of her again.  
She held out her hand,

"Then give me a tip." She said.

"Eh?"  
"Tip, tip, tip, tip, tip, tip!"

"Um, I-I really can't…"

"I can pay for the both of us." Lavender said, "I really enjoyed the act." She pulled out two bills from her wallet and placed them in her hand.

"Yatta! Thank you!" She exclaimed happily, "Eh! This is a lot!"  
Ichigo looked surprised as well, she moved closer to Lavender and whispered,

"A-are you sure you want to give her that much?"  
"It's fine." Lavender waved away, "I really enjoyed that." She looked at the young girl, "You're really talented. I'm happy I got to see your performance today. Thank you."  
"Really?" She looked at him with wide eyes.

"I wouldn't be tipping that much if I wasn't happy." Lavender said sincerely.

Part of her was a little worried. A kid that age going out and performing on the streets like that? It seemed…wrong somehow. And…she'd given her a really impressive performance.

"I'll see you again." Lavender said.

The girl nodded her head enthusiastically,

"I'm in the park every day." She told her.

"Good to know." Lavender said.

She started walking along with Ichigo. They were headed in the same direction. Once they were out of hearing distance from anyone, Ichigo spoke,

"That was really generous of you." Ichigo said.

"Well…I guess I just didn't think it was fair." Lavender looked off to the side.

"Eh? What wasn't fair?" She wondered.

"She must be in some difficult circumstances to have to perform like that every day." Lavender said, "I don't know that I could do that, let alone with a smile."  
"Eh?" Ichigo wondered, then looked over her shoulder at the park. She hadn't thought of it like that…

There was a length of silence, and then…

"You saved us last night." She said quietly.

Lavender hummed,

"I was watching the Café." She admitted.

"Eh? Why?" Ichigo wondered.

"Like I said," Lavender met her gaze, "Magic like that can be dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. So…would you answer my questions? I want to know more about Café Mew Mew. What its true purpose is. Why someone would want to make magical warriors and if there are any side effects."

"Er, well…" Ichigo trailed off, "Purpose…eto…From what I understand, there are these aliens. They came from another planet and they're trying to get rid of all the humans."  
Lavender nodded,

"That makes sense. By invading through the use of those jellyfish parasites, they've been turning the planet against itself. Without purification magic, people would be forced to kill each other and the animals involved. We'd wipe ourselves out in the end."  
Ichigo's eyes widened,

"I…I hadn't thought of that."

Lavender inclined her head thoughtfully,

"So, my guess is…the Mew Mew were created in order to combat this enemy. Usually, when magic like this is granted to someone there's some sort of compatibility…or something. So, we were the only ones compatible for using this sort of magic, I'm guessing?"

"Eh…You know a lot." Ichigo said with round eyes.

Lavender smirked, feeling just a little smug,

"I am a witch, after all." Lavender was proud of her magical abilities. She may not be a prodigy in any sense of the word, but she loved her magic and she loved using magic.

"Sugoi…" Ichigo whispered, then lit up, "Can you like…see the future? Can you cast spells? Or see ghosts?"

Lavender smiled a little,

"Yes to all of those. My last school had quite a few ghosts in them actually. I can't really see the future, but I can make predictions. Divination is my best subject. And any witch worth their salt can cast spells."

"Eh…" Ichigo was looking at Lavender with admiration.

Ah, she was getting distracted though.

"Tell me a bit more about Mew Mew." Lavender said, "I want you to give me all the information you have."

"Alright." She said agreeably, "Basically…A Mew Mew is someone infused with the DNA of an animal. A Red Data Animal, since some Red Data Animals have a unique ability to resist the infusers."  
"Infusers…those weird jellyfish things?" Lavender guessed.

"Yeah, those things." Ichigo nodded, "They take over animals, turning them into Chimera Anima. They're…well, they're aliens." She explained, "Ryo-san knows more than I do about them though. He's the one who started all this…I mean, he created the Mew Mews."  
"I see." Lavender was starting to understand a little. She was pretty sure that sort of magic was far beyond her.

So, some of these animals have the ability to resist the infusers…Infusers seemed like magical beings as well.

Lavender wasn't the best when it came to magical theory. She wasn't terrible, but this was really more Granger's area of expertise.

"Brown-san?" Ichigo asked, snapping her from her thoughts.

"Sorry. Just thinking." Lavender frowned, "I know…there's a theory that the world itself has some form of sentience. Magic comes from the earth. Maybe when a species is close to extinction, the earth aids them…" Lavender let out a sigh, "I'm going to have to look some of this stuff up. I was never good at the theoretical stuff. Whatever the case, the power likely comes from a higher power. But the contract is probably human in design."  
"Eto…what does that mean?" Ichigo asked her puzzledly.

"That means only the person who designed this process will really know if there might be any negative consequences. Unless he's a reckless idiot who doesn't realize what he's done." Lavender added in.

"Either way, I'm not sure I want to join your team yet."  
"Eh? Why not?" Ichigo wondered.

"Being someone else's soldier isn't my style." Lavender shrugged her shoulders, "See you later, Momomiya-san."  
She left Ichigo on the bridge.

It was time for her to go home.


	13. Chapter 13

**I just did a search through all the stories I could find with Lavender and I still can't find the story I'm looking for! Although, it is kind of interesting that Lavender is in so many slash fics. Did not expect that…**

**I do not own Harry Potter or Tokyo Mew Mew**

…

"So that's the situation, huh?" Ryo murmured as Ichigo returned with her story about her confrontation with Lavender.

"Nn." Ichigo nodded sadly, "I think she was upset…"  
"Well, at least we know for certain now that she's a Mew Mew." Minto said, taking a sip of tea.

"Yeah…" Ichigo trailed off.

"And…a witch." Retasu added in hesitantly, "Are witches really real?" she looked over at Ryo curiously.

"I would I know?" Ryo said.

"Well…you did use magic to turn us into Mew Mews." Ichigo trailed off.

"I didn't use magic." Ryo looked off to the side, "I used science. Genetic engineering in order to harness a certain unknown energy…"  
"Which is magic." Ichigo added in.  
Ryo looked ticked by the use of the M word. He was a scientist. He didn't like things that couldn't be explained. He always had to look for an explanation.

"I suppose it is possible that there are humans who have a natural ability to control the unknown energy and they might think it was magic, theoretically." Ryo said, "But there couldn't be many people with such an affinity…"

"So, she is a witch." Minto said, elegantly taking a sip of her tea.

"Maybe." Ryo grounded out, "She might be what we considered a witch. But that unknown energy isn't magic. It's just something we haven't found an explanation for yet."

"Right…" Ichigo said doubtfully.

Ryo crossed his arms over his chest and leaned up against the wall. He didn't want to argue this point anymore. It was obviously futile.

….

0000000000000000000000

….

Lavender was walking home after school when she decided to walk down towards the park where the girl he'd seen before had been performing.

When she got there, she dropped her bag.

It was the elf, or rather, the alien that she'd seen before. He was holding out his hand towards Pudding who was suspended in mid-air, screaming as her body started to light up.

"Get away from her!" Lavender shouted, throwing the girl's ball at the alien's head.

Well, at least it was a successful distraction. The girl fell to the ground giving a cough and trying to regain herself.

Lavender ran towards her and took her hand, pulling her out of the way.

"Tch, annoying." The alien said, then held out his palm over in Lavender's direction now, only for whatever he was doing to fail.

"What?" he wondered, only for his face to be met with Lavender's knee.

The alien stumbled back,

"You're going to pay for that!" He shouted, then held out his hand and blasted some strange energy towards her.

Lavender jumped out of the way, then released the magic inside of her, transforming in a flash of light.

She summoned up her spear, spinning it around and automatically cutting through the energy, blast by blast.

It was about time she start going on the offensive.

"So, you're the kittycat from yesterday." The alien said, "I suppose I have no choice but to use the crystal I got from yesterday."  
A black crystal appeared in his right hand and an infuser appeared in his left.

"Infuse!" He shouted.

The light was blinding, and Lavender raised her arms to shield herself from it. When it dimmed what stood there looked like a cross between a woman and a lizard dressed in a revealing red and orange outfit and with some sort of strange headdress. It shook a pair of maracas.

"Samba!"

Lavender's eyes narrowed.

"Eh!? Oneechan has cat ears! Purin wants cat ears too!" The girl, er, Purin? Shouted out excitedly.

Was she really not afraid of all this? Lavender wondered.

She twirled her spear around, transforming it into a staff, blocking the beams of light the lizard sent towards her. She jumped up, flipping through the air and wacked her with her weapon. She spun around, hitting her again, only she blocked this time.  
Her headdress opened and started to glow dangerously.

Lavender jumped out of the way just in time to avoid the explosion.

This thing…wasn't nearly as strong as those vertexes!

"Haaa!" Lavender cast her ice, freezing the whole ground. The ice traveled up the lizard's legs, causing it some panic.

"Now I've got you!" Lavender launched herself forward at top speed, planting the staff right on the lizard's forehead. The part of the staff that touched it started to glow with a bright, white light.

The monster which let out a scream.

The lizard woman was completely enveloped in a pure light, turning into nothing but a black crystal and a glowing jellyfish.

Lavender leaped forward, staff transforming into a spear and sliced through the jellyfish with a mighty swing.

Lavender turned to look at the alien who looked very peeved with her.

"Tch." He floated back, fading into the air.

He got away.

"Oneechan! That was amazing!"

Lavender found herself suddenly wrapped in the eleven-year-old girl she'd saved. She was clinging to her excitedly.

It was then that Lavender saw something odd…her ears…those were animal ears.

"Eh? You're like me?" Lavender wondered, looking at her.

She even had a tail.

"Eh?" Purin wondered, then got off of her. She felt up the sides of her head and beamed, "Purin had kitty ears too!"  
"Well…I don't think they're cat ears." Lavender trailed off.

"Brown-san!"

Lavender turned to see Ichigo, Minto and the green girl running towards them.

"Eh!? Another Mew Mew?" Ichigo looked at Pudding.

A strange, pink floating creature flew over to Pudding and glowed a soft blue. It opened its mouth and a golden pendant came out, falling into Purin's hands.

Lavender's body glowed her clothes returned to normal. Her ears were human, her hair was back to being brown and she no longer had a tail.

"So, it was you who saved us before." Minto said, "And you have no plans on joining us?"  
"No." Lavender said, "However, if I change my mind, I'll let you know. For now…I'm going to return home."

She turned around to leave.

She didn't like the idea of Purin fighting. She was only eleven…

She looked back over at the group of girls one last time, eyes traveling to the girl with yellow hair.

It was like she'd been hit with the realization of just how unfair that was.

The image of Purin fighting vertexes…the thought made Lavender sick to her stomach.

She walked a little faster.

She just wanted to get out of there.

…..

0000000000000000000000000

…..

It had been nearly three months since Lavender had come to this world. This strange world which was apparently being invaded by aliens. And a couple of weeks since her meeting with Purin.

After school and homework, she trained with the school naginata club. It was a bigger club than her last school with nearly twelve people in it (not including herself). The school she was going to now was known for their more traditional sports, apparently. Sports like Kendo, Kyuudo, and Naginata. The team did seem stronger than the last one she'd been on. But Lavender was keeping up and she was improving at an impressive rate. Even she was surprised at her new skill level.

Fighting all the time really helped you improve quickly, it seemed.

At night, she went out fighting Chimera Anima, sneaking out of her room.

"Ah." Lavender opened up the newspaper one morning.

She'd made the front page…

_Mysterious Bishojou Who Fights Monsters by Night!_

She felt flattered at being called a pretty girl and couldn't help but smile goofily.

_Mysterious Bishoujo Who Fights Monsters After Hours!_

Huh? Wait…this picture wasn't of her. She looked at the image. The first article was about her, but this one…the picture was of someone else, and it definitely wasn't any of the other girls.

"Another one?" She whispered, looking at the paper curiously.

"Eh? Is there something interesting in the paper today, Lavender-chan?" Himeko asked her.

"Eh? Ah…" Lavender jumped a bit, nearly forgetting she was there, "Well…a few things…"  
"Hm…I noticed you've been reading the news lately." She chuckled, "Already trying to act like an adult?"  
Lavender felt her face heat up.

"I-it's not that…I just…there was this man I met at the zoo…apparently something happened there and it was all over the news and everyone knew and…I was the only one who didn't know…"  
Himeko chuckled,

"You're so cute, Lavender-chan."  
Lavender felt herself blush again.

It wasn't that strange, was it? Reading the news…or maybe that was just unique to the magical world. It wasn't like they had television, and the radio programs seemed to be exclusively Quidditch coverage.

"But you know," Himeko continued, "It's okay to not know something. It's also okay to ask questions. Don't be afraid to look foolish, you'll only learn more than those who are afraid to ask questions, after all." She said smartly.

Lavender relaxed a bit,

"I guess you're right." Lavender agreed. Her eyes traveled back to the newspaper once again.

…..

00000000000000000000

…..

After school, Lavender grabbed her things and made her way down towards Café Mew Mew.

"Irashai – Brown-san!" Ichigo exclaimed suddenly.

"Hey." Lavender said.

"Eh? Brown-san?" Retasu said, looking up from the table she'd been cleaning.

Minto looked up from her teacup as well.

"Purin-chan isn't here?" Lavender looked around.

"Not yet." Ichigo said, "Did you want to see her?"

"I didn't come here for Purin." Lavender said. Although, she had sort of wanted to make sure she was okay with everything…

Lavender opened up her bag and pulled out a newspaper.

"I thought you guys might want to see this." She lay the paper out.

"Eh?" Ichigo looked at it, "EH!?"

"What? What is it?" Retasu made her way over to take a look, her eyes widened, "Oh dear…"  
Now Minto had gotten up from her table to see what the problem was.

"Mysterious Bishojou…that's you, isn't it?" Minto looked over at Lavender.

"Mm…I don't particularly mind having my photo taken like this. The light isn't very good, so it's not like anyone can see my face. But, there are two things I wanted to bring to your attention." Lavender pointed to the picture of the girl, "This girl, she's not you guys. I know for a fact that you hardly fight the Chimera Anima at night."  
They all exchanged looks and nodded.

"The second thing I wanted to bring to your attention is that the Chimera Anima are becoming more active. I had to fight two of them last night alone."  
"Eh…" Ichigo trailed off.

"They seem to come out at night more." Lavender said, "I think that's because the enemy knows that you aren't active during that time. I decided to take the night shift since that's more convenient."  
"So then…you've been fighting at night to help us?" Retasu said.

"Well…" Lavender trailed off, "Mostly it was to help myself."

She shook her head. For a moment, she'd sounded a lot like Karin.

"But, anyways…this girl here, that's not me. She's not a part of your little group either, and she's obviously a Mew Mew as well."  
"Ah, I see!" Ichigo exclaimed, "She's our new member!"  
"Lav-neechan!"

Lavender was suddenly enveloped in a hug as Purin came running in.

"Ah, Purin-chan." Lavender returned the hug, "How are you? Everything okay?"  
"Nn." Purin nodded her head happily, "I've been working here too, Lav-neechan!"  
"Really?" Lavender said, "Are you doing okay? Being paid enough?"  
"I'm making more money than I was before." Purin nodded happily.

"That's great." Lavender said, "I'm so happy for you. And the fighting? Are you…are you taking care of yourself?"  
"Hai!" She sang.

Lavender relaxed a bit,

"Okay, well, if you get in trouble, any trouble at all…" Lavender opened up her bag and pulled out some paper and a pen. She wrote down her address and phone number.

"You call me or you go to this address, okay?"  
"Eh? Really? Is this where Lav-neechan lives?"

"That's right." Lavender nodded her head.

Minto looked at the address,

"Eh? I know that place." She looked up at him with surprise, "You live there?"  
"Yeah." Lavender said, wondering why she looked so surprised, "That's my house."  
Ichigo and Retasu shot her a curious look.

It was then that Minto took a look at the silhouetted figure in the paper.  
"EH!?" She shouted, stepping back suddenly.

"Eh? You know her, Minto-san?" Ichigo inquired.

"N-n-no." She shook her head vehemently, taking a few more steps back.

Unfortunately, this had her crashing into the table. Her bag fell over and out of it spilled a magazine with a very beautiful girl on the cover. An older girl, maybe in her late teens.

"Ah!" She quickly grabbed the magazine, facing away from them to cover it up.

"What's that?" Ichigo asked her.

"N-Nothing!"

Purin smiled mischievously, then moved around and snatched it away.  
"Ah!"

"It's an idol magazine!" Purin shouted triumphantly.

"Idol…" Lavender trailed off.

She read some of those. They were really interesting. And she'd started to gain a taste for idol music too. The girls were just so pretty and they wore the cutest outfits.

Minto's face was turning red, but she tried to pass it off,

"I…I just grabbed it at random to read."  
Lavender doubted that. But why would she be ashamed? She had to hand it to her though, even caught red-handed she was still trying to save face. Lavender felt a pang in her chest, immediately reminded of Karin.

Purin opened it up, her eyes widened. She then pulled out a pair of scissors and started cutting up one of the pages.

"W-what do you think you're doing to Zakuro-oneesama's magazine!" Minto shouted with horror.

"Purin, you shouldn't cut up something that isn't yours." Lavender scolded her.

Was it just her or did she just sound a little bit like Granger?

"Here!" Purin pulled out a picture of Zakuro, the idol and put it beside the Silhouette. They seemed to match perfectly.

"Then," Ichigo said, "The new member is…"  
"That's right." Minto said, "It's Zakuro-oneesama!"

She sure seemed to be gushing over this idol, Lavender thought.

"Born in September, a Virgo, an up and coming actress and star. She speaks, English, German, French and Mandarin. With black opal hair, long legs that are pale white like platinum…She truly is the ultimate Mew Mew. The true saviour of earth!"  
Lavender wasn't so sure about that. Just because you were pretty didn't mean you were strong.

"Hehe, so even Minto adores idols." Ryo came walking out from behind the curved wall that led to the kitchen. The boy with the brown ponytail was behind him.

"Eh? Brown too?"

Lavender felt a bit irked by his drawl. It reminded her too much of Malfoy.

"I only came to see how much you guys knew about all this." She said simply.

Even if he was kind of cute, if she had a bad personality then it didn't really matter.

"Well," Keiichiro interrupted, noticing that Lavender had become more stand-offish, "It must be some coincidence the gods set up if someone Minto-san admires is going to be our sixth member."  
"Sixth?" Lavender repeated, "I still don't think I agreed to join you."  
"Eto…" Keiichiro gave her an awkward smile, "Fifth member, then?"

Ryo crossed his arms,

"Good timing. Everyone go confirm this. Go attend the audition."  
"Audition?" They parroted back.  
Lavender's eyes traveled to the magazine. She lifted it up and took a peek inside. Ah. There was going to be an audition for someone to play Zakuro's younger sister. Zakuro herself was going to be there.

Lavender felt her eyes light up.

When she was little she'd always dreamed of being a big star. Acting out on stage or singing. Part of her still kind of remembered that childish fantasy. This might actually be a lot of fun!


	14. Chapter 14

**I hope I'll get some reviews. This story needs more love!**

**I do not own Harry Potter or Tokyo Mew Mew**

…**..**

During the weekend, Lavender went off to the audition. She changed into some loose, work-out clothes in the change rooms, then went to the backstage area where all the other girls were waiting.

"Eh? Brown-san, what are you doing here?" Ichigo wondered.

"It sounded like fun." Lavender said with a shrug, "And I kind of wanted to see what sort of person Zakuro-san was." She paused, "You can call me Lav if you want. All the girls in my class call me Lav-chan, since my name's a bit hard to pronounce for them."  
"E-Eh? Eto…in that case, call me Ichigo." Ichigo said.  
"Ichigo-chan, then." Lavender dipped her chin in acknowledgement.

The judges came in, sitting down in front of him. A man who looked half Asian sat down in the middle of the table (obviously he was the most important). One man sat on his left, the other to his right.  
Then, Zakuro came in. There was a lot of cameras going off, flashing and lighting up the auditorium.

She took a seat at the end, she had big dark glasses over her eyes.

Lavender's eyes widened a bit. So, that was what a big star looked like…She was kind of cool.

"Now, we will start the auditions!" The announcer at the side said into his microphone.

They were called up by number. Number one first, then number two…

Lavender watched them carefully, suddenly growing quite nervous. Would her skill level be good enough to compete? They all got a lot of applause from the audience.

It was a dance and singing audition.

"Contestant number fifteen. Aizawa Minto-san."  
Mint was up first out of the three girls. Purin was too young to be in this, Lavender figured.

Minto made her way up onto the stage. She was dressed in a blue leotard and ballet slippers. She was getting ready to dance when screams came from off the stage.

"Everyone get back! A small monkey that breathes fire is here!"  
What? Lavender wondered.

Could it be a Chimera Anima?  
Only, it wasn't. It was Purin. She ran out onto the stage,

"That was mean, leaving me behind! Purin wants to audition too!"  
"Purin!" Ichigo tried to stop her, chasing her onto the stage.  
Retasu quickly went to Ichigo's aid.

"Oh dear…" Lavender murmured, watching the catastrophe play out.

At some point, Purin brought out a gong and started banging on it like crazy.

No one was amused.

"Enough!" A voice shouted out in English.

Everyone froze, coming to a complete stop. They all looked at the judge in the middle who had risen up from his table.

"Are you making fun of me? That's it! This audition is canceled. Obviously, if no one's taking this seriously, it's a waste of my time."  
The girls all looked devastated.

"Please wait a minute." Lavender spoke up, stepping out from behind stage, she moved over to the judges table. All eyes were on her, "No one was making fun of you, and I think they are taking things seriously." Her eyes traveled over to Purin, then back to the judge.

"When I was a little girl, I used to think about how incredible stars were. I mean, idols." She corrected, "This girl is young, but from what she was saying, I think she has the same dream as well. That's why she crashed the performance. I'm not condoning what she did, but I can understand it. I don't think anyone here would want to give up that feeling of being on stage in this audition." Lavender paused, then bowed her head, "Forgive me for speaking so out of turn."  
The man frowned, then sat back down in his seat, an odd look on his face. His eyes scanned Lavender over. It was almost disconcerting.

"Alright." He said, "What is your name?"

"My name is Lavender Brown." She introduced herself, "I'm British. But I've been living in Japan for a long time. I'm fluent in both Japanese and English."

"I see…" The man seemed to be thinking on something, "Alright…in that case, we may resume auditions…but only on one condition."  
Lavender blinked,

"Alright?"  
He then turned to Zakuro,

"Would you please dance first?" He asked her.

Zakuro blinked, then smiled and gave a small laugh,

"That's fine." She agreed.

"He says that he'll allow the auditions to continue on the condition that Zakuro-san do a dance as well." Lavender told the girls.

"Sugoi! That was incredible, Lav-chan!" Ichigo said with awe.

Lavender blushed a little,

"Not really. English is my first language, remember?"

Zakuro walked up on stage.

She took off her clothing to reveal a leotard underneath. Had she been prepared for this? Lavender wondered.

How did idols do it anyways?

The music started and Zakuro started to move. She was leaps and bounds ahead of all the other girls. It was really quite incredible.

"Bravo!" The judge in the middle clapped his hands.

The other two judges were in awe.

And then Minto spoke. It might have been a bit much though. She claimed that Zakuro was a companion and, well…It didn't go over well.

Minto was frozen after that. She didn't audition and the other girls, Ichigo and Retasu had to take her with them off stage.

Purin looked guilty and Lavender watched as she started to move off stage.

Lavender got up and followed after them.

"Purin-chan?"

Purin turned around to look over at Lavender. She gave her an encouraging smile,

"You aren't the one who hurt them, okay? If you feel upset about it, then apologise, just remember that it was Zakuro-san's words that made Minto-san upset."  
"Hai…" Purin seemed to cheer up a bit, "Thank you, Lav-neechan."

"Take care." Lavender said, "I guess I don't really have any reason to stay here anymore."

Zakuro wasn't going to talk to her. It was possible that the Mew Mew wasn't her too…Well, she supposed that finding the other Mew Mew was the goal of their group anyways. It wasn't like Lavender was super set on having another group of companions…not after last time.

…

00000000000000000000000

….

Monday was a holiday and by then, all thoughts of Zakuro had sort of just stopped…until Lavender got a call on her cell phone.

"Moshi moshi?" She answered.

"Brown-san." It was a familiar voice, "Come to café Mew Mew. There's an emergency. The girls have all been captured."  
"Eh?" Lavender wondered, eyes slightly wide, "I…okay. I'll be there in a moment."

She closed her phone and ran out of the house.

"Eh? Lavender-chan?" He heard Himeko's voice behind her.

She had no time to stop though as she ran through the streets. She fled towards the wooded area, racing down the path towards the café.

She entered through the door of the café. Even though it said 'closed' on the sign. She unlocked the door using her magic.

"What's going on?" She burst in through the door.

"Eh?" Ryo looked startled. He'd just been about to answer the door. He seemed to relax again, "Come with me. The situation is serious. Keiichiro is gathering data in the back room."

Lavender followed him around the slopped wall corner and into the kitchen, then through another door at the back into a big, but dark room. At the far end of the room were computers all lit up as Keiichiro typed away on a keyboard.

He spun around in his chair,

"These four lights represent the girls." He explained to Lavender, "They're trapped in another dimension. However, there is one way to save them."  
"How?" Lavender asked him.

"Zakuro-san possesses the power to cut through dimensions. She should be able to cut through this one with her powers and save them. However…"  
Lavender let out a sigh,

"So, she isn't your ally yet, is what you're saying."

Keiichiro nodded seriously,

"I'm sorry about this, Brown-san but…the fact is, you're the only Mew Mew we can count on now."  
"I get it." Lavender said.

Even if she didn't think of them as her allies, or friends, she wasn't just going to let them die.

"I guess…I'll team up with you for now." She couldn't help but think of Purin. She was just a kid…They were all kids though, weren't they?

"There should be a live television broadcast that Zakuro-san will be attending." Keiichiro told him, "No doubt the aliens will be going after Zakuro-san as well."

Lavender's lips thinned,

"Is that the television station near the Teleco building?" She knew where that was…

"The very one." Ryo told him.

"Alright." Lavender said, "I'll go…this broadcast is happening now?"

"In about two minutes." Keiichiro said.

She didn't have time to waist! Lavender took off running. Ryo stared after her as she left.

"Is something wrong, Ryo?" Keiichiro looked at him.

"It might be nothing…" He trailed off, "There's something different about her."  
"Hm?" Keiichiro looked up at Ryo, "Well…thinking on it, there was a peculiar reading. Originally, we only planned for five Mew Mews to appear."  
"But six of them did." Ryo completed for him, "Could you pull up the data from back then?"  
"I think so…" He typed something into the computer.

After a moment, something came up on the screen.

"This one here…" Ryo said, "We know that Ichigo has the Iriomote Wildcat DNA fused inside her. Which means this one…The Snow Leopard…that must be Brown's." His eyes narrowed at the screen, "It looks…strange. This part here." He pointed to the DNA, "There's an extra element here that I've never seen before…No, wait…it's familiar. That looks a lot like the image of the girls' DNA after the fusion…how's that possible?"  
"You're saying, Brown-san was a Mew Mew before?" Keiichiro looked surprised.

"No…" Ryo's eyebrows knitted together, "It's…element X." His eyes widened, "What gives the girls their power. The element that fuses it together."

"She already had it in her system before the fusion?" Keiichiro wondered, "In that case…you think there might be something to her claim? Of being a witch?"

Ryo frowned, but remained silent.

….

00000000000000000000

….

Lavender got to the studio. It seemed the broadcast hadn't started.

"Hey, do you have permission to be here?" A woman stopped him.

Shoot. She pulled her wand out.

"Confoundus."  
The woman gained a glaze look, then shook her head,

"My apologies, Brown-san."

"Hey."  
Lavender turned. Had she been caught? It was Zakuro. She gave her a suspicious look.

"Um…I should go." The woman said, running off, leaving Lavender alone with Zakuro.

"What did you just do?"  
Lavender grimaced,

"Bit of magic to convince her to let me stay. I wouldn't normally do it…but the lives of four girls are at stake."  
Zakuro's expression hardly changed,

"That means…you are…"  
"I came to tell you." Lavender said, "There's a way to save them, but only you can do it. Your power can cut through to the other dimension."

"You're like me too then." Her eyes traveled over her face, "Part animal."  
"I am." Lavender said, "I…don't really want to be a part of their group. I mean…I'll help people and I'll fight and I'll continue fighting…because who's going to do it otherwise? But…but I don't want to join. It bothers me. That Ryo-san and Keiichiro-san did this to us. I don't like being manipulated…I've been manipulated far too often. But I can't just watch this world die either. All I can do, really is to fight on my own terms. So, I'm not going to ask you to join some magical mission. Obviously, that's not going to work on you." She met her eyes, "But…could you still save them? Purin-chan is only eleven. She's just a kid. Please…just safe four kids."

Zakuro stared at her a long time,

"I'll think about it." She moved off onto the stage.

How could she be so cold? Lavender felt frustrated. She drew in a deep breath.

Cut through dimensions…maybe…maybe she could try doing that. She had her spear. And she knew what it was like to travel through a barrier. Cutting one was a whole other thing. But…maybe if she manipulated her magic in just the right way…

A voice that sounded annoyingly like Granger's echoed through her head,

_Don't mess with magic you don't know about._

She watched the broadcast with Zakuro. It was like she was a completely different person on television. Kind of made her see the world of celebrities as something completely different.

Zakuro normally had a much colder personality. She acted kind, maybe even a little cute in front of the camera.

Her attention was drawn when she sensed something from down the hall. A light caught her eye. She ran out, feeling a bit of trepidation as she glanced out into the hallway.

It was the alien! Kisshu! He had his hand, palm out and he just finished extracting a crystal from a woman's chest.

The black crystal floated into his hand.

"Oh, look who's here. The other kitty cat." He smirked, "Fusion!"

He combined the crystal with one of those jellyfish things and from it grew an enormous snake.

Lavender knew right away that it was leaps and bounds more powerful than any of the other Chimera Anima she'd fought. It was on the level of a low-level vertex.

She could still take it.

Kisshu suddenly lunged forward, trying to pin her. She snarled at him, then spun around and kicked him in the head. Kisshu was surprised.

"Don't think I'll go down so easily." Lavender's eyes glowed.

She held out her hand and her spear appeared.

The alien flew back, looking irritated,

"Go! Kill Zakuro!" He ordered the Chimera Anima.

Kisshu came charging at her with a pair of blades that materialized in his hands.

Lavender jumped out of the way quickly, parrying his knives with her spear, spinning it around expertly.

This wasn't just her innate skills as a Mew Mew. She had technique as well, something the other girls didn't have. She was also used to fighting much more powerful opponents. The blade cut through his flesh, leaving a line of blood over his upper torso. But it was a shallow wound.

"Hm…it seems there's more to this kitty than just claws."  
Lavender wished he'd stop calling her that.

Her magic burst out in a glow of blinding light. She was in her Hero outfit, her hair was white now, and her ears and tail were still there.

Kisshu realized Lavender hadn't been fighting at full strength and quickly teleported away.

"Tch." Lavender gripped her spear in hand.

She needed to save Zakuro.

She ran into the back of the studio. Zakuro had a snake around her neck, a real one. She was stroking it affectionately and smiling. But her expression changed when she saw the giant demon snake approaching from in front of her.  
The other TV hosts suddenly screamed when they saw it too.  
"What is that thing!?" Someone shouted.

Lavender leaped into action when the snake lunged for Zakuro. She blocked with her spear. Lavender was pushed back a few inches.

She turned her head,

"Get out of the way!" She shouted.

She could hold it off a while, but it was a pain protecting everyone there while she was fighting.  
They seemed to break from their trance and ran off. Lavender then jumped up suddenly, knocking the thing on the head with the blunt end of the spear and causing it to hiss with anger and irritation.

The spear transformed into a staff. She twirled it around and an explosion of ice wrapped around the thing.

Hm? It wasn't affecting it as she thought it would. Could it be that the scales were harder than she'd predicted? It might be magical resistant.

That was annoying.

Lavender jumped in the air, moving the ice back around the serpent and hitting it again. She needed to find a weak point. The eyes or the mouth maybe?

Lavender leaped over her swinging serpent tail, causing her to turn around. Her mouth opened again, fangs in attendance. She waited until the very last second, prepared for her teeth to sink into her flesh.

"There!" She shouted a little louder than before.

This time, the ice turned into a deadly spear, piercing through the roof of her mouth.

Ha! She'd done it!

A flash of light filled the studio and suddenly, Zakuro was standing there, as was Ichigo, Retasu, Minto and Purin.

Lavender let out a sigh of relief.

Time to finish this thing off!

She spun her staff around, then sent her ice down the creature's throat. The Chimera Anima glowed and then all that was left was a black crystal and an infuser.

The pink puffball that followed Ichigo floated over to the infuser and swallowed it up.

People seemed to come out of hiding.

"Who are you?" Someone wondered.

"Does someone have this on film?"  
Ah well…at least she'd looked super epic fighting that thing.

Ichigo seemed to panic,

"Ah! E-eto…aha…w-we work at Tokyo Café Mew –"

Minto suddenly smacked her over the head,

"Idiot, don't tell them the truth!" She hissed to her quietly.  
"Ah, right!" Ichigo said tensely.

"What's that? You're the Tokyo Mew?" Someone wondered.

Ichigo perked up,

"That's right. We're the Tokyo Mew Mew and we're here to be of service to earth, nyan!"

Wait…was she on television right now? Lavender felt her face growing hot and she looked off to the side nervously.

She was really growing sick of television.


	15. Chapter 15

**Hope you're enjoying the story so far. Thank you for sticking around to reach chapter 15!**

**I do not own Harry Potter or Tokyo Mew Mew**

Lavender woke up. She'd fallen asleep in class…

She'd been cramming for a test last night, but her head was swirling with so much that she wasn't sure she'd done that well.

Lavender gave a yawn.

"Hey, did you see the news?" Someone asked.

"The Tokyo Mew Mew, right?"

Lavender gave a small jerk in her spot. They were…going to talk about that? She closed her eyes and rested her head back on her desk.

"The purple miko-girl was really cute, don't you think?"  
"Well, she was the one who did all the fighting…"  
"I wonder if the other girls are really strong too."

"But she really stood out, didn't she? I mean, her outfit didn't really look like the others."

Lavender felt her face grow red. Well, a little attention wasn't so bad…

It was lunch time…She pulled out her bento box as her friends came over to sit with her.

"Hey, Lav-chan." Nana greeted her, "Do well on the test?"  
"No idea." Lavender confessed, "I crammed all of last night, but I was so tired that all the questions kept swirling."

"Ah…"

"Not during lunch today?" Lavender questioned her.

"Nope." Nana said, "The dodgeball tournament is over."  
"I see…" They must have lost their match, then.

"So," Midori said, "You see the television cast yesterday?"  
"Y-yeah. The Tokyo Mew Mew…right?"

"Yeah. It seems to be all that anyone can talk about." Nana nodded her head knowingly.

"Er…do you have a favourite?" Lavender realized they weren't going to move away from this topic.

"Too early to say." Nana shrugged, "Everyone keeps talking about the purple miko girl. She's the only one we saw fight, and she didn't really look like she was part of the group, you know?"

"Yeah, she didn't really pose with the others." Midori added in.

"Yeah…" Lavender trailed off.

Well, she wasn't part of the group. She just happened to be lumped in with them.

…..

0000000000000000000

…..

After classes, Lavender was practicing in the naginata club. She swiftly defeated her opponent in three moves. She stepped back and they both bowed to each other.

Lavender took off her helmet and drew in a deep breath. She moved to the side to take a drink of water.

"Sugoi…"  
Lavender turned to see Ichigo standing by the door. The girl froze on the spot.

Lavender raised an eyebrow,

"Was there something you wanted?"

"I…" Ichigo flushed a little at being called out, "Well…Shirogane-san wanted you to come to the café later."  
Lavender met her eyes, not saying anything a moment.

"I'm not interested in your group. I thought I made that clear."  
"Eto…well, he said he'd explain things…" Ichigo winced, "And you said you wanted an explanation…"  
Lavender thought on this. Shirogane Ryo was the brains, or at the very least, one of the brains behind the Mew Mew Project.  
She wanted answers and he was willing to supply them with that.

She let out a sigh,

"Fine. I suppose I'll change out of my gear. Just give me a minute."

She went down towards the changerooms, walking past the other girls.

She took a little while to change and pack her things away. Once she was done, Lavender met up with Ichigo in the hallway.

"You're really good." Ichigo commented, "I mean, at naginata. Have you practiced for a long time?"  
"Well…for a while, I guess." Lavender thought back.  
She'd started Naginata about a year ago now…that meant she was fifteen…She didn't look it though, and she could still easily pass as thirteen. Was she aging? The last time they'd had a school medical exam, she'd been the same height as she'd been near the beginning of last year.

It was possible she wouldn't be getting older until this was all over…maybe.

Well, getting older or not, she was still stuck in this world until Animetopoeia deemed it was time for her to move on to the next one.

Would this be it? Would she be going home once she was done in this world? Or was another world awaiting her? Another world with new dangers?

"You…don't like Shirogane-san…do you?" Ichigo said hesitantly.

"I'm not his biggest fan." Lavender informed her calmly, "Messing with magic when you don't know what you're doing is terribly reckless. And…people who do things like that…to do something like that to begin with means they had no choice. Someone pushed into a corner like that can do all sorts of terrible things."

Ichigo appeared to be uncomfortable.

Lavender's expression hardened,

"Magical wars…can be terrible, just like any war. I've seen them before. People die. It's not just a game, Ichigo-san. People can die…or worse…"  
"Magical…wars?" Ichigo repeated.

Lavender dipped her chin. She was still shaken by the events of the other world.

"I was a part of one. Once. There is…a powerful magic that was used during the battle. A special magic. When used, it granted the user extraordinary power temporarily. Once it ended…part of you was sacrificed to the gods. A friend of mine sacrificed the use of her legs. Then the use of her left ear. Another friend of mine sacrificed the use of her arm, then the use of her legs."  
Ichigo's eyes widened,

"That's…why would they…"  
"To stop the world from ending." Lavender answered her, "When in a desperate situation, people will do whatever it takes. Shirogane Ryo-san had to make such a decision. I worry about what else he might have done or will do out of desperation." She looked over at Ichigo, "As for you and the others, you don't seem to understand how bad it is. This is an invasion. A very clever and calculated invasion. If we didn't exist, the aliens would continue creating Chimera Anima. Those Chimera Anima would kill, or tear apart some humans, until they were stopped, killed by a gun, or some other weapon. For those human Chimera…their souls would be shattered." Her eyes narrowed at her, "To shatter a soul is worse than death. They wouldn't just stop functioning or breathing, Ichigo-san. They would never rise to the heavens, or rest in the earth. They wouldn't even turn into wandering souls. The fate of a shattered soul…is nothing."  
Ichigo's eyes widened with horror,

"That's…you mean…"  
"And the humans would continue wiping each other out." Lavender continued, "Damning themselves to a fate worse than death. Only purification magic can separate an infuser from a soul, it seems. That's the magic you use. The magic the six of us use. In other words, if the Mew Mews didn't exist, this world would be facing an apocalypse. Your worst-case scenario seems to be Aoyama-kun finding out you're a Mew Mew and rejecting you. My worst-case scenario is us being defeated and no one else having the means of defending themselves leading to all souls on this planet being shattered. Including your Aoyama-kun. You wouldn't even get to see him in the afterlife."

Ichigo looked ill,

"Uso…" She whispered.

Lavender said nothing.

It was best that she understood the harsh reality now rather than later. Maybe the Kaisha had been kind keeping them in the dark. But all of them would have preferred knowing the truth beforehand.

…..

00000000000000000000

…..

As soon as they entered Café Mew Mew, Lavender was greeted by Keiichiro.

"Brown-san!" He smiled charmingly, "Just this way, if you would."

Lavender was brought to the back room. She frowned when she realized what he was doing.  
"Wait a minute! Just because you toss me into the back room with some clothes doesn't mean I'm automatically going to change into them!"

"I'll make you a cake."  
"What am I, six?" Lavender deadpanned.

"Just change into the uniform already." Ryo said, "Otherwise we can't give you our full rundown."

"Do you blackmail every girl who walks in here, or am I just special?" Lavender fumed.  
Feeling irked, Lavender changed into the uniform.

It was cute…but they thought it would make her stay, then they were gravely mistaken.

Lavender's uniform was a regular black and white.

When she came out of the changeroom, Ichigo had changed as well into an identical uniform, save for it being red instead of black.

"Ichigo, start closing the place down." Ryo ordered her.

"Hai!" Ichigo said with a smile.

After a while, the café started closing up and the last customer left. Lavender noticed that Zakuro was there. Somehow, she'd been recruited into joining…

They walked into the back room through the kitchen. It was dark, save for the computers up front.

The door behind them closed.

"What is this place?" Ichigo wondered.

"I told you before, it's a secret base." Ryo said calmly. His arms were crossed, and he was standing in front of an enormous monitor.

"Shirogane…" Ichigo trailed off, "And what are you planning to do here?"  
He closed his eyes and dipped his chin downwards,

"I want to make the situation clear now that the six of you have gathered." He looked back up at them, "The earth is being targeted."  
The giant monitor lit up, showing a picture of the earth.

"The bad influence from the animals coming from the destruction of the environment isn't something that just begun recently. However, we started receiving weird data readings a while ago."  
"Weird data readings?" Retasu asked.

"Yes. We have to conclude after doing a long research study on the subject that someone is cooperating in the destruction of the environment. Furthermore, whoever they are, they're using an advanced technology that is still undiscovered here on earth." Ryo told them.

"Alien?" Ichigo guessed.

"They are trying to recreate the world to their advantage." Ryo confirmed, "They don't care if the animals on this planet go extinct. No, that might be their true purpose."  
"Most of those are suppositions." Zakuro pointed out.

"There's one thing we're sure of." Ryo said firmly, "If we don't stop these aliens, there will be no future for anything, human or animal here on planet earth."

It was interesting how he said that.

"How can you be so sure of that?" Zakuro asked him.

"The final thing that convinced me of this was you all."

"Us?" Minto wondered.

"That's right. The Grey Wolf, Zakuro."

An image of the wolf flashed up on the screen.

"The Golden Lion Tamarin, Purin."  
The monkey appeared on the monitor next.

"The Finless Porpoise, Retasu."  
An image of some sort of dolphin-like creature.

"The Tahiti Blue Lory, Minto."

After the image flashed, Ryo's eyes traveled to Lavender.

"The Snow Leopard, Lavender."  
Lavender recognised it immediately as the animal she'd seen in her dream that had jumped into her body.

"And finally, the Iriomote Wildcat, Ichigo."  
Her animal flashed up onto the screen too.

"The fact that six people who have the power to convert Red Data Animals' powers were brought together by fate convinced me." He leaned up against the edge of the screen, "I don't believe in coincidences."

Lavender looked away. Fate was the one thing she needed to fight against in order to live.

"But, aren't you the ones who chose us, Shirogane-san?" Retasu asked him.

"No." Ryo said seriously, "We simply…just found you all. If there is a person who chose you, it must be…"  
He looked toward the screen which had now settled on an image of the earth again.

That did make some sense. Lavender had considered a higher power being involved.

The earth itself? It wasn't too unlikely.

"Hai! Hai! Hai! Hai! Hai!" Ichigo raised her hand excitedly, "I have a question!"

Ryo deadpanned,

"You…really can't read the mood, can you?"  
"I understand that we have to fight, but how long do we need to fight?" Ichigo asked, ignoring his reaction.

"Huh?"

"You told us that our bodies are going to stay like this until the end of the fight." Ichigo said, "That my ears will continue to poke out when I'm excited. So, I'm asking, when is the fight gonna end?"  
"I told you, after you defeat the aliens." Ryo said.

"So, when is that?" Ichigo demanded.

"How should I know?"  
"What!?"

"That ends my speech." Ryo said, then crossed his arms behind his head, "Let's go eat some cake."  
Ichigo still looked frustrated,

"I have an issue with that…"

"Ichigo-oneechan…" Purin looked concerned.

"Ichigo-san…" Retasu gave her a sympathetic look.

"You must like someone." Zakuro decided.

Ichigo leaped up into the air,  
"EH!?"

Lavender rolled her eyes at that conclusion.

"E-eto, s-sona!"

Zakuro put her finger to Ichigo's lips, stopping her.

"If you want to experience real love, you can't be the only one who gets excited. You have to make the other person get excited as well, right?"

Zakuro started to walk away, apparently, she'd said all that she wanted to say.

Lavender left as well. She wanted to talk to Ryo in private, if that was possible.

"Shirogane-san." Lavender approached him.

Ryo looked over at her,

"You want to talk, Brown?"

Lavender dipped her chin,

"I have my own theories about what's going on, but I need you to fill in the blanks. I still don't feel I have reason to trust you yet."  
Although, it had been confirmed to her that Ryo had definitely done this out of an act of desperation, as she had suspected originally.

Ryo nodded in acknowledgement,

"Am I right to believe you've been in fights before, Brown?"

Lavender moved off into the back room, wanting this conversation to be away from the other Mew Mew.

"That's right." She confirmed, "The truth is, I'm not from this world."  
"You're an alien?" Ryo's eyes narrowed.

"Not the same ones who have been invading your world." Lavender brushed aside.

Huh, she supposed she really was an alien…sort of. Did parallel universe count as 'alien'?

"I'm not an invader. In my world, prophecy is common, and I was cursed with a bad fate. In order to avoid it, I was told to travel to other worlds. This has been the second world I have visited. I'm only here to learn and seek answers." She told him.

"Prophecy, huh?" Ryo looked doubtful.

"I'm telling the truth." Lavender frowned, "Didn't you say that you believed in fate just a minute ago? There are ways of going against it. Fate, I mean. I don't know that I'm strong enough to do something like that yet…but the person who sent me here is. I can't let things end the way fate planned it. I just…I can't." She looked back up at him, fists clenched, "I know the dangers of magic, Shirogane-san. I've seen them. I've had to fight for my life, and even my right to exist for a long, long time. That's why I don't trust you. It's hard to trust a magic you don't understand."

Ryo was silent a moment, then,

"Can anyone completely understand another person?"

"Eh?" Lavender wondered.

"When we face something we don't understand, most humans lash out. They grow afraid, sometimes for silly reasons. Sometimes that fear turns to hatred. Isn't that what happened with your Dark Lord?"

"Don't compare me to him!" Lavender's eyes blazed.

"I'm not." Ryo looked away, "I'm just saying I know what you're talking about. That stuff is all too common. In any world, it seems. You don't trust easily, do you?"

That wasn't something Lavender had ever been accused of before. In fact, she'd often been told that she trusted a little too easy. That she was naïve.

But Ryo was right. She didn't want to trust him. She didn't want to trust anyone anymore. Not after what had happened…

"You don't need to trust me right away…but will you give me a chance? If you have any questions, I'll answer them honestly. If you do give me a chance, I promise I'll do all that I can not to abuse it." He held out his hand to her, "Do we have a deal?"

Lavender looked down at his palm, thinking about it a moment.

"I'm in a club. At school Naginata. I want to continue it for three times a week after school. But…I'll keep my phone on, so if anything happens, you can call me during that time. I'll work here the rest of the time…I suppose." She tensed, "But if I think something's off, I'm leaving."

Ryo nodded.

It was the best he was going to get.

Lavender met his hand, shaking it.


	16. Chapter 16

**There are so many Magical Girl anime out there! There are sci fi magical girls, purely magical girl magical girls, dark magical girls, mecha magical girls, isekai magical girls…It is so difficult to choose what I should do next. Well, I know what comes next, but I don't know what comes after that. If you have any suggestions, give me a review!**

**I do not own Harry Potter or Tokyo Mew Mew**

…**..**

From that point on, Lavender was working at Café Mew Mew. She was a rather poor waitress, but as she continued with the work, she got better little by little.

She persisted in searching the streets after dark for Chimera Anima.

There weren't that many out and about for some reason.

Odd when there had been many of them before…

When Friday came around, there were practically none. She was almost relieved that things had settled down, if only because it allowed her a chance at more sleep. But, when stuff like that happened, it usually meant that the enemy was planning something. Her mind flashed back to when the vertexes had gone silent for some months, only for seven of them to appear at once.

"You seem…distracted." Minto commented as Lavender went on her break.  
"Do I?" Lavender hummed, "There's something weird going on."  
"Something weird?" Minto asked her.

There weren't many customers around as they were reaching the end of the day.

"Mn. I've been hunting some of the Chimera Anima at night…but it's like their numbers have been declining. It's strange…I couldn't sense any of them last night at all and I know it doesn't have anything to do with us." Lavender frowned, "For a while, the number spiked to the point where I was fighting three every night. That was around the time you guys were trying to recruit Zakuro-san. The aliens seemed to keep up their numbers until now…I wonder what changed."  
"You think they're planning something?" Minto reasoned.

"Maybe." Lavender said distractedly, "It's got be feeling weird, you know? Like…like something's going to happen."

She watched as Ichigo moved to the kitchen to get the orders for some of the other tables.

Her eyes traveled over to the kitchen, "What are they doing?"  
Minto rolled her eyes,

"They're still on the whole July sixth thing. They want to know why Keiichiro-san circled that date and why he's preparing a cake for then."  
"Ah, right." Lavender had nearly forgotten about that.

It was July now. She'd originally arrived in this world in late March. So, just a little over three months now…It was hard to believe it had been that long.

"A lot has happened since I came here…" Lavender trailed off, a thoughtful look on her face.

"I guess so." Minto said, eyes traveling over to her.

"Come to think of it, I guess my birthday is coming up soon."

"Really?" Minto asked him, "Your birthday is in July?"  
"August, actually. The fifteenth."  
"Eh…" Minto trailed off.

Lavender heard a loud clatter and quickly stopped wiping down the table to go tend to the spill that had just occurred.

Ichigo was left to clean up on her own after work, but Lavender decided to stay behind and help her. The other girls were waiting outside for them to finish up.

Ichigo stopped by the door to the kitchen. The light was still on.

"Akasaka-san?" Ichigo peered inside.

"He's still here?" Lavender wondered, approaching her from behind.

"Eh? Seems so…I wonder whose birthday cake it is…"  
"You like to spy on people?"  
Both Lavender and Ichigo turned around suddenly.

"That's rude." Ichigo huffed, and then her face shifted to concern, "But…that cake…"  
"He makes one every year for his old girlfriend's birthday." Ryo said, leaning back against the wall.

"Huh." Lavender said, "I guess…he must still be in love with her."  
"Who knows." Ryo said with a careless shrug.

"That person is…" Ichigo looked at him.

"Someone who studies butterflies." Ryo wasn't about to say anything more on the subject.

Well, the butterflies on the cake made some sense then, Lavender thought. But it seemed to catch Ichigo's attention.

"But…why?" Ichigo asked him.

"Why do you want to know?" Ryo looked down, he didn't really want to divulge his best friend's secret, obviously.

"I've…met Rei-san before." Ichigo told him.

"Eh?" He looked back up at her.

"Rei-san…seemed very lonely." Ichigo said sadly.

Ryo straightened, no longer leaning. He turned his head to look over at Keiichiro who was still working away at the cake.

After a while, he spoke,

"They both loved each other. They were very devoted to each other…but they were also very devoted to work. They couldn't meet very often, and it frustrated them both. In the end…Rei-san broke up with Keiichiro on her birthday. He never got to give her the cake he'd made. I suppose he must have regretted that. That's when he started making those cakes. You got that? It's none of our business. They chose their own path…that's all."

"But I can't just…" She burst through the doors.

"Oy!"  
"Akasaka-san!"  
The man turned to her,

"You're still here?"

Ryo came in behind her,

"Oy! Stop it!"

"Akasaka-san," Ichigo began determinedly, "You must meet with Rei-san. Let's go now."

He looked upset, then shot Ryo a dark look.

Lavender decided to intervene,

"Eto, Keiichiro-san. Momomiya-san apparently met Rei-san before. I don't know the full story…But, eto…it wasn't Ryo-san who said anything really…"  
Well, alright, he did sort of say a lot…But Ichigo seemed to think that Rei…whoever she was really missed him or something.

"I'm sure that Rei-san wants to see you again." Ichigo said certainly, "She just wanted you to study whatever you wanted. So…" She looked down, "She only left you because she loved you. You feel the same way, don't you? Isn't that why you're making the cake?"

That really was quite romantic, Lavender thought, feeling her face redden a little. She always did like a good love story…She decided to add in her two sense,

"I think that if you don't go to her now, you might always wonder what would have happened if you had. I think…Rei-san likely feels tied to her past still too…if what Momomiya-san is saying is correct."  
"You two…" Keiichiro let out a sigh, "I suppose…you're probably right."

"Then, let's go!" Ichigo said, glad that she'd finally gotten her point across.

"Eh? Me too?" Ryo looked reluctant.

….

00000000000000000000

….

There wasn't really a reason for Ichigo, Ryo and Lavender to all be there. This was kind of supposed to be Keiichiro's moment…and he was driving too.

They started walking towards the building.

Maybe they were going to get a piece of that cake? Lavender's eyes traveled down to the container in Keiichiro's hand. It was tied up with a cloth so that no one could see what it really was.

He was treating it very carefully.

Well, Lavender supposed one of them had needed to go to hold the cake during the drive. Ichigo wanted to come, but she'd dragged both Lavender and Ryo along for the ride anyways.

They got out of the car and as they made their way towards the building, the lights suddenly went out.

"Eh? What happened?" Ichigo wondered, "Why'd it suddenly go black?"  
And then, a very powerful light seemed to envelop the whole building. Lavender tensed.

"Chimera Anima." Lavender hissed, "I sense it."  
Keiichiro tensed up as well and Ichigo went on guard.

The wall to the institute exploded and a butterfly-human hybrid came bursting out.

"Butterflyyy!" It said in English.

"Lav-chan!" Ichigo looked over at her.

"Right." Lavender said, reading her silent urging.

"Mew Mew Strawberry Metamorphosis!" Ichigo shouted out.

Lavender didn't bother saying anything, she allowed the magic inside of her to come bursing out, completely enveloping her figure.

Their clothing changed to their usual battle outfits.

Once it was done, Ichigo pointed at the butterfly chimera anima.

"We won't let you interrupt these two lovers' reunion! For the future of these two, I'll be of service ~ Nyan!"  
Lavender had no plans on saying something so cheesy.

Then, she saw something. A woman trying hard to breathe, inside of a red cocoon-like…thing. The cocoon was red and glowed ominously.

Keiichiro dropped his cake. Horrified.

"Rei-san!" Ichigo noticed her too, "Unforgiveable! How could you steal innocent spirits again and again to make chimera anima? Kisshu, where are you?" She demanded angrily.

"So, you two are part of Tokyo Mew Mew?" An unfamiliar, child-like voice asked.

They looked up to see a child and a man standing on top of the building. They had pointed ears, like Kisshu and seemed to have similar fashion senses.

"More aliens?" Lavender observed.

Right. They hadn't even considered that there might be more of them.

"Who are you?" Ichigo frowned.

"Heh." The child said, his legs hanging over the building from his sitting position, "You look weak. I can't believe Kisshu couldn't handle them."

"First, we must test their abilities." The man said, and he seemed to be holding some sort of fan in his hand. "Go! Butterfly!"  
The butterfly launched forward, then rose in the air.  
"Butttterflyyy!" It groaned, its wings flapped, and a sparkling dust fell down on them.

"What's this?" Ichigo wondered.

"Run!" Lavender shouted to her. Only, when the sparkling dust fell on them, they both found it very difficult and painful to move their bodies. Lavender's felt like her throat was on fire and it was tough to breath.

"P-poison?" She guessed.

She glared up at the butterfly and summoned her staff. Then, she jumped into the air, above the sparkling poisonous dust. The base of the staff planted down into the butterfly, pushing it down into the ground. It let out a terrible scream as ice started to cover it.

Purify, Lavender urged.

The creature changed back into a soul crystal and infuser.

Lavender looked back up at the two aliens. They both looked surprised.

She'd beaten their monster in only a matter of seconds.

She moved her staff, slicing it through the air. It transformed into a spear.

She could already feel her lungs clearing up, her breathing was coming a lot easier.

"The soul is a sacred thing." Lavender spoke, "To use it, twist it in such a reprehensible way is unforgiveable. Had the Mew Mew not been created, we would have been forced to destroy the souls of those creatures, condemning them to nothing. Not to rise to the heavens, nor rest in the earth." She glared up at them, "Do you not understand what dark magics you've delved into?"

"What are you blubbering on about?" The young boy sneered at her.

"I see." Lavender said, "You're ignorant fools, then."  
"Hey! You can't talk to me like that!" The boy shouted down at her.

The crystal orb, Rei's soul, flew back into Rei who regained color to her skin.

"I see." The older alien spoke, "I hadn't cared to consider the consequences of shattering a soul."

"You hadn't cared to consider it?" Lavender repeated, growing angry. She looked up at him, her purple eyes now glowing with anger and power.

"I may not belong to this world. I may be an outsider. An alien, like you. But…I cannot forgive this. I'm going to fight you and I will defeat you." She drew her spear back, purple light surrounding it, she proceeded to launch it through the air towards the aliens.

The older alien drew up his fan, eyes wide as the spear crackled against a barrier of electricity. Bloody scratched appeared on his face as he realized he was losing the battle of power.

"Pai!" the young boy shouted out with alarm, he then glared down at Lavender, "Why you…" He stopped, noticing the enraged expression Lavender was sporting.

Ice was forming around the fan Pai was holding, and then it shattered.

The spear zoomed through the air sharply, then it turned and thrust itself back into Lavender's hand.

Pai was holding a now bloody arm, his blank expression had faltered to a look of unease.

"Lav-chan…" Ichigo trailed off, surprised at her outburst.

"I won't miss next time." Lavender said quietly.

Pai's lips thinned, then he and the young boy alien disappeared, vanishing into thin air.

"Lav-chan…are you alright?" Ichigo asked her.

Lavender looked down,

"I'm fine." She turned away.

"You don't really expect us to believe that, do you?" Ryo approached her, "You're angry."  
"Magic that manipulates the soul is the darkest of magics." Lavender said quietly.

Her aunt had told her that. Any magic dealing with the soul was unforgiveable. Even dark wizards and witches knew to stay away from it.

"I just…can't imagine hating someone that much. That I'd…that I'd use soul magic like that." Lavender shook her head. She felt tears enter her eyes, "For a moment…I really was going to kill them."

Ryo was silent. Lavender drew in a deep breath,

"I've had to fight before, but it was never like that. I didn't know I could get angry enough to kill."

And then she felt a pair of arms pull her into a hug. Her face was planted into a rather…broad chest.

Ryo was hugging her. It barely registered for a moment.

He didn't say anything. Maybe he had nothing to say. Lavender already knew that he was terrible with words. He sometimes said the opposite of what he meant, like Karin did.

Lavender started crying, sobbing into his chest.

What had happened to all that strength she'd had when she'd been fighting the vertexes?

Maybe she missed being allowed to feel weak. Because being strong was all that had been left for her before.

She wasn't a tool or a weapon. She was human, and she couldn't help but relish in the heavy emotions, just because it reminded her of that fact.


	17. Chapter 17

**I'm going to start dropping more hints about Lavender's past. She's got a whole load of serious stuff going on. I may have had Lavender talk about Harry in earlier chapters, but it's not due to any romantic feelings (yet). It's mostly due to her own guilt. She feels like a coward for not helping Harry out when she knew he was being treated badly. She also feels pretty horrible about subconsciously forcing the role of 'hero' onto someone else. Now she knows that she can be a hero too, and she's not going to let up once she returns to her own world.**

**That being said, I think Lavender has grown to appreciate Harry more than she did before. He took on the role of 'hero' with no complaints and now she knows just how hard that is. She's started to look at him in a whole other way and that may lead to romantic feelings in the future.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Tokyo Mew Mew**

…**.**

The month of July passed by and it was onto August.

Some strange things had been happening lately. For starters, it seemed the Chimera Anima could now be based off of plants for some reason. Could they really be called Chimera Anima? Chimera Plants?

The aliens also seemed to be forcing more of their efforts on destroying them too.

Masha was kidnapped at one point, but they managed to retrieve him from another dimension.

In Japan, they got a summer break starting on the fourth of August and all the way until the end of the month.

They also got a pile of summer homework.

Lavender decided that she'd focus her attention on that, considering there was no telling when the next attack might come. If she was too distracted, she might never finish!

Lavender decided to get her hair cut, she'd always admired Togo's hair and decided, after finding what kind of style it was, to get a hime cut.

She wondered if she might have been slightly influenced by the Japanese aesthetic. A hime cut was quite traditional and kind of old fashioned, but it still retained some popularity in modern times.

It was before her naginata tournament that she noticed her eyes were a little bit different.

Lavender had always had pale blue eyes, but now they looked kind of purple. Just a bit.

She winced a little.

She'd always been told she had her father's eyes.

She didn't know how to feel about the color being just a little bit different now. Should she be thankful?

She'd always looked a lot like her mother, she'd been told that often. With straight, hime-cut hair, she felt she looked less like her mother now and more like…herself.

Or maybe she looked more like the person she wanted to be.

The girls' naginata summer tournament started midway through the summer and ended only a few days before. Their team actually won the tournament!

Lavender found she was quite proud. She'd never really accomplished anything before…well, other than saving the world, er, another world. But this was different. This sort of victory wasn't accompanied by pain or regrets. It was hard to put into words exactly.

While she was busy with the tournament, there had been a Chimera Anima attack on the town. Another hero had shown up during a dire moment. Someone, a boy called the Blue Knight.

…

0000000000000000000

…

Lavender was wearing a dark purple bikini with a light purple sweatshirt that was partially zipped down. She'd bought the outfit in the last world after having been invited to the beach by the Kaisha organization. The girls, and Ryo and Keiichiro were all in swimsuits too.

They were at the beach.

For some reason, Ryo had decided it would be a good idea to take them all on a mini vacation. They'd taken the train there with packed bentos and a nice lunch.

This was probably the most relaxed Lavender had been in a while.

The sun was so nice…

They spent most of their time chilling out, building sandcastles and playing in the ocean.

…..

0000000000000000000000

…

"Nyan?" Lavender opened her eyes, "I had a weird dream where there were aliens…"  
She sat up suddenly, realizing the sky had gone dark.

"Wait a minute, there really are aliens!" She realized.

A giant starfish chimera anima and a giant…sea slug or something? They were heading towards the beach.

Lavender transformed in a flash of light.

Her body glowed, changing. Her human ears changed to those of a cat, and a tail elongated out of her spine. Her clothing vanished and was replaced by her usual miko-style battle outfit.

She summoned her staff, sending purifying ice and snow at the aliens.

The attack hit the starfish.

And then Retasu burst out of the water, she was glowing! And she had a tail like a mermaid instead of legs!

Her light seemed to move the clouds away.

"Those animals live in the ocean and are sensitive to light!" Minto realized, "Now's our chance!"  
She summoned her bow and arrow.

"Ribbon Minto Echo!"  
"Ribbon Zakuro Spear!"  
"Ribbon Purin Inferno!"  
"Ribbon Strawberry Check!"  
The chimera anima burst into light, then returned to being normal animals, dropping back down into the sea.

They all transformed back, looking human again.  
"It's about time you woke up!" Minto looked at Lavender, obviously peeved.  
Lavender felt her face turn red,

"I…I was really excited about going on vacation…and I didn't sleep."  
All of a sudden, her ears popped out.

The girls started to laugh.

"It's not that funny…" Lavender trailed off.

…

00000000000000000000

…

They returned home later that evening after playing in the water and running around in the sun, Lavender was getting tired again.

"Mou, you already slept for three hours today and you're tired again?" Minto scolded her as Lavender's eyes started to close.

"Mn." Lavender confirmed.

Things started returning to normal when they got back. Café Mew Mew was packed when they opened up again. There were lineups down the street!

Lavender helped Keiichiro in the kitchen with the baking part. Purin was on dishes. Although, for some reason, she suddenly collapsed.

Lavender rushed over to her when she noticed something wrong, quickly catching her.

"What is it?" Lavender paused. She could feel the heat radiating off of her, "She's burning up…"  
Maybe she'd caught Ichigo's flu from a while back?

"She has a fever." She looked over at Keiichiro.

"Take her to the back." Keiichiro said with concern. He stopped what he was doing.

"Don't worry." Lavender told him, "I can take care of her. She only needs one person to look after her, nee?"  
"Ah…I suppose…" He trailed off.

Besides, the café was busy and Keiichiro was a better cook than Lavender was anyway.

"Don't worry." Lavender said, "I can handle it."

She maneuvered Purin onto her back, carrying her piggyback style, then moving to the back rest area. She lay Purin out on the bed and started looking through the first aid kit.

"Let's see…Ah, this will do." She put a cold press on Purin's forehead.

She grabbed a glass of water as well, returning to her bedside.

Purin opened her eyes after about half an hour.

She tried to get up.

"You don't need to get up." Lavender said quickly, "Here. Drink some water."  
"Mm…thank you…" she said, taking a few sips, "I need to go…"  
"Go?" Lavender repeated, "Go where?"

"Pick her up…"  
"Her?" Lavender parroted, trying to make sense of it.  
"I need to pick her up. She's at daycare still and I'll be late."  
Lavender tried to figure out what she meant and then…  
"You mean…your sister?" She guessed.

She'd heard Purin had younger siblings, but she didn't talk about them all that much. She was kind of guarded at times.  
"Mn." Purin nodded her head.

Lavender drew in a deep breath.

"Why don't I pick her up for you then? You can call the daycare and…"  
"No. It has to be me. She won't leave unless it's me…"  
Okay then…

"How about…How about I go with you then?" Lavender suggested.  
"Eh?" Purin looked at her in confusion.

"I'll go with you." Lavender decided, "I can't let you go home alone in your condition. Or rather…if you try to go off on your own, I'll just follow you anyways, so you'll be stuck with me no matter what."  
Purin gave her a weird look,

"Mou…I'm not a kid…"  
Lavender immediately felt a flashback.

_Don't treat me like I'm a kid!_

Lavender closed her eyes,

"Yeah. I guess you aren't." She could sort of tell that she wasn't, "I'm not treating you like a kid. I'm treating you like someone who might collapse at any second. What would you do if it was me? Or if it was Momomiya-san or Minto-san or Zakuro-san or Retasu-san?"  
Purin paused, then scrunched her face,

"Make them stay here and rest."  
"That's right." Lavender said gently, "However…I can tell this is important to you. I can carry you on my back if you want. That way you can rest while we're making our way there."  
"Purin doesn't…" Purin paused.

"I'll be your chauffeur then." Lavender said, "And you can be a valiant knight on her way to rescue the princess…from a preschool."  
Purin laughed a little at her attempts to cheer her up.

Lavender got up,

"I'll leave you to change." She decided, "Then we can leave together, okay?"  
"Okay…" Purin agreed.

Lavender exited the room and waited for her to finish.

The door opened and Purin came out. She did not look steady on her feet. Lavender crouched down.

"Here you go. Get on my back."  
Purin hesitated a moment, before getting on.

"Just leave it to me." Lavender told her gently.

They left through the kitchen.

"Keiichiro-san? I'm taking Purin to pick up her sister, then I'm taking her home, so…I'm ditching work, bye."  
Keiichiro chuckled,

"Bye, Brown-san. I'll see you tomorrow."  
"Sure. No problem." Lavender said as he walked through the restaurant and out the front door, squeezing past the line of people.

"Lavender-neechan…thank you…" Purin murmured.

"You're welcome." Lavender said, shifting her a little so she didn't fall, "Which way are we going?" She asked her.

"Mm…turn right and straight down."  
Lavender did as she was told.

It was a longer walk than she had imagined. Purin was very tired and soon fell asleep. Lavender didn't mind. She managed to get an address off of her before she passed out.

She finally reached the place. It was sunset now.

"Oh my, Purin-chan!" The daycare worker said, looking worried, "What happened?"  
"She passed out at work." Lavender said, "I work with Purin-chan. She's my friend. I wanted her to stay and rest a bit, but…she said she had a sister here and wouldn't let me leave without her."  
The daycare worker looked worried.

"Pour girl…"  
"I assumed she was in a difficult situation." Lavender said, looking over her shoulder at a sleeping Purin.

Ever since she saw Purin working in the park that day, she'd known there was something going on.

"Mm…a few years ago, Purin-chan's mother passed away. Her father left to continue his training to become undefeated in martial arts."  
What a crummy father, Lavender thought.

However, that sort of reminded her of her own family situation.

"So, Purin-chan was left to take care of her younger siblings. Cooking, cleaning, I think she's even been making money on the side. Even though she attends school too…"  
"I think I understand." Lavender said softly. She didn't elaborate on that thought.

"I'll take care of Purin-chan while she's sick. I can sleep over to make sure everything goes well and cook breakfast. I'm usually up early for my club, but I'm sure they won't mind me taking a week off."  
"I'm glad." The daycare worker said, looking relieved.

"Oneechan!" A little girl came running out of the daycare.

Lavender smiled down at her,

"Your oneechan isn't feeling very good right now. I'm your oneechan's friend, so, I'm going to take care of her until she's better, okay?"  
The little girl nodded.

"My name is Brown Lavender, but you can call me Lav-neechan. What's your name?" he asked her.

"Heicha." She said timidly.

"It's nice to meet you, Heicha-chan. What a cute name. Do you think you can help me, Heicha-chan?"  
"Help you?" She looked confused.

"Mn. I need someone to guide me from here to your oneechan's bedroom. Your oneechan needs sleep. It's a very important quest."  
Heicha nodded her head,

"Leave it to Heicha!" She said.

Heicha took off running. Lavender followed after her. She turned to the daycare worker and waved to her.

"Bye! I'll see you later, I think."

"Bye, Brown-san. It was nice meeting you."

Lavender turned back and followed Heicha down the street towards their house. It wasn't too far away. The distance was a lot shorter considering the trek they'd taken from the café.

It looked like a Chinese style house rather than a Japanese one.

Heicha took off her shoes and Lavender did the same, putting them away. She was then led up the stairs to Purin's room.

She gently tucked her into bed.

Lavender turned to Heicha.  
"Mission complete." She smiled at her.  
Heicha smiled back.

"Now then, how many of there are you?" Lavender asked her, "I need to know how many I'm cooking for, nee?"  
"Heicha has four older brothers."  
"Four…" Lavender shook her head.

She was cooking for six…no, seven people, including herself.

"Alright." Lavender said with a smile, "Leave it to me, okay? Why don't you go downstairs and I'll start cooking?"  
Feeding six people wasn't something she'd done before. Lavender knew how to cook. She wasn't the best cook in the world, mind you, but she knew a thing or two. Her aunt had taught her when she'd been growing up…

-_Flashback_-

"_Lavender? Lavender, are you okay?" A woman with short-cut brown hair knelt down to where the tinny girl was sitting at the coffee table._

_She was crying, shaking her head._

"_Mum…won't eat anything."  
Her eyes widened,_

"_Your mum won't eat?"  
"I tried making her food, but she won't eat it and…I'm really hungry, Aunt Ness."  
Her aunt winced,_

"_How long has it been since you've eaten, Lavender?" She asked the young girl quietly._

"_Two days…"  
"Okay…I'll make you some food right now, alright? And then…then I need to make a call."_

"_Aunt Ness?" Lavender sobbed, "I can make food. I can feed mummy. I just need to cook better."  
"Oh, sweetheart…"_

_Somehow, that pitying look stung worse than that cold gaze her mother so often got when she looked at Lavender._

_It was always like this…although it had been getting more difficult lately._

_-End Flashback-_

Lavender chopped up some onions, letting them cook in a hot pan. She took out some ground beef and meshed it with the big, black spoon she was using.

She was going to have to make double the amount she normally made. No, triple. Some leftovers wouldn't hurt.

The water was starting to boil, so she added in the spaghetti noodles.

"Some diced tomatoes…" Lavender continued with the sauce, now stirring it and adding in a few spices and olive oil.

Her chore list was a lot like the one she used to have. She could see it on the wall.

Once she was done, she served the kids some pasta (all kids loved pasta, right?).

"Now then…" Lavender started cooking again, although this time she was preparing rice porridge for Purin. She knew it was a comfort food for those in Japan. It was good for someone who was sick.

She looked the recipe up on her phone (they didn't have cellphones like these in the muggle world back in her home world).

She brought it up to Purin's room with a tray.

"Purin-chan?" Lavender whispered.

Purin's eyes opened.

"I made you some food. I'm going to set it down over here on your bedside. Try to eat some of it. You're going to need your strength to get better, okay?"

"Ah…I need to cook…"  
"I've already handled it." Lavender told her, "Everyone's been fed. I'm following the schedule on the whiteboard you wrote out. I hope that's okay."  
Purin looked surprised, then lay back in bed.

"Thank you…I didn't know you could cook, Lav-neechan."  
"I've been cooking since I was very little." Lavender told her, "I'm used to this sort of thing. I'm going to clean up downstairs and see about making your brothers get their homework done, okay? I also plan on staying with you for the next few days. Until you're better."

"Eh? D-demo…you don't have to do that." Purin protested.

"It's fine." Lavender told her, "I don't really have anyone waiting for me at home. And I'm used to waking up early for my sports club meetings."

"Eh? You have no one waiting for you at home?" Purin wondered.

"There's the caretaker." Lavender said, "She's nice enough. Nicer than…who I was living with before."

Purin stared at her. She tilted her head to the side,

"Did your kaa-san die too?"

"No." Lavender shook her head, "My kaa-san doesn't like me."  
"Eh? But…but a kaa-san is supposed to love their kids." Purin looked confused by the very concept.

"Not all mother's do." Lavender shook her head, "My mother loved me once…maybe. But after my father died…she abandoned me."  
"Abandoned…" Purin's eyes widened, "Maybe…maybe she's trying to make money for Lav-neechan, or…"  
"I don't really want to talk about it, Purin-chan." Lavender said sharply, interrupting her.

Purin tensed, then looked down at her lap mutely.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to be harsh." Lavender apologised.

Maybe she'd gone too far…but it wasn't anyone's business.

Purin shifted a bit. She took the lid of her bowl off and took a bite of the porridge.

"It's really tasty!" She looked surprised and happy. She was obviously trying to break the awkward mood that had set in.

"Thank you." Lavender relaxed a little, "Get some rest, Purin-chan. I'll be back up here in a bit to check on you, okay?"

She walked out of her room and closed the door gently. Then she made her way downstairs and got to work.


	18. Chapter 18

**I'm stuck on which Animetopoeia I should start on next! I've gotten so many suggestions. All of them are really, really great! I guess I'll just start with the ones that stand out the most to me and go from there?**

**A more recent suggestion is a Mecha Animetopoeia starring Hermione Granger (I can see it).**

**I do not own Harry Potter or Tokyo Mew Mew**

…

"That's really kind of you, Lavender-chan." Himeko said as she dropped off some clothes, a toothbrush and pyjamas for her to spend the night, "Taking care of your sick friend…"  
"Well…" Lavender trailed off, "She need some rest and it's the least I can do. I'm used to this sort of work anyways."  
"Well, call me if you have any problems." She said.

"Thank you, Himeko-san." Lavender thanked her gratefully.

"Of course. You're a good girl, Lavender-chan. I should be getting back, I suppose." She walked down the walkway and back towards her car. Lavender closed the door behind her.

She'd be sleeping on the couch tonight.

Lavender got up at six o'clock and made breakfast. She didn't know what they usually had, so she made a traditional Japanese breakfast.

She woke the kids up and had them wash their faces and brush their teeth before going downstairs to eat.

She took a tray of breakfast to Purin, putting a lid over top to keep it warm for when she woke up.

Heicha went to preschool and the boys had daycare. They were older, but since it was the holidays, school was out. She packed them all bento lunches for them to take with them.

Lavender went to do some shopping, then returned and did the laundry. She cleaned the house and went to check on Purin a few times to make sure she was really okay.

When evening came, Lavender went to pick up Heicha from preschool. She went with her without a hitch and Lavender gave her a piggyback ride home to make it fun.

Purin's brothers arrived home on their own.

Lavender then made supper for them all again. This time she made omu-rice. It was simple enough to do, and Lavender wasn't sure she could do complex dishes for so many people at once.

Lavender washed the dishes and put them away, then made Purin her own special meal. Some chicken soup. She went upstairs and found Purin awake.

She smiled at her.

"Feeling any better?"  
"I'm feeling great!" She said.

"Really?" Lavender put a hand on her forehead.

She shook her head,

"Nice try."  
Purin's face turned red.

"I'm not leaving until you're better, Purin-chan. And that means no fever. And I'll be checking now that you tried to pull that one."

Purin pouted.

"Here you go." Lavender put the tray down on her lap, "Today's special is chicken soup. Good for curing a bad cold."

"Oneechan keeps helping Purin…"

"That's because we're friends." Lavender told her.

Well…sort of. Were they friends? Even Purin was looking uncertain at the statement.

"I'm used to this sort of thing." Lavender told her, "I cook and clean all the time."

"Oh." Purin paused, "Are we really friends, Lav-neechan? It doesn't always feel like it."  
"Eh?"

"We laugh and talk together like friends. But…" She looked up at her, "I don't know anything about you. Ichigo-neechan's favourite color is red. Not pink, but she turns pink." Purin paused, "Retasu-neechan likes pink and green best. Minto-neechan likes light blue or turquoise. Zakuro-neechan likes blue and purple. I don't know Lav-neechan's favourite color. Purin doesn't know Lav-neechan's favourite food…Purin didn't even know Lav-neechan's father died. Lav-neechan doesn't seem to like anyone much either."  
Lavender winced. She let out a sigh,

"It's not that I don't like you or the other girls. It's just that…I grow frustrated."  
Purin looked up at her,  
"Why's that?"

Lavender looked away,

"Alright." She said, "The truth is, I'm not from this world."  
"Eh?" Purin wondered, "Lav-neechan…isn't from this world?"

Lavender looked over at her,

"No…I suppose I'm a bit like those aliens that are trying to invade…I'm from a different universe entirely. I'm very, very far away from home."

"Oh." Purin's eyes widened, "Then…why is Lav-neechan here?"

"Hm…Where I'm from, people put a lot of stock in prophecy. I was cursed with a terrible fate. But, there are ways of changing it. In order to change my own fate, I have to travel to different worlds and learn from them. Where I'm from, magic is a common thing. We use it all the time. Mew Mews use magic too, but it's a little bit different from my own magic. It seems…my magic and the magic of a Mew Mew have combined inside of me somehow…Well, anyways, I was conscripted into a war a while back. It was…terrible. I never thought I was a strong person…until being strong was all that I had left. I know, when I return to my home world, I'll be forced to fight in another war and…someone I know is probably going to die too." She clutched her hands into fists on her lap, "I want to get stronger. I want to get strong enough not just to change my own fate, but to change the fates of those people too. It's difficult…connecting with the people here. Because I know I'll leave them someday."

Purin looked shaken.

"Ah, gomen." Lavender apologised, "I don't…want to make you sad. That's just how it is. I have people waiting for me back home." She frowned, "That being said, I don't want to leave this world until I've made a difference. Those other aliens have done something unforgiveable. Tampering with human souls…is the darkest of dark magic. It's not to be trifled with. Since you're a magic user now too, Purin-chan, I want you to remember that always. Never, ever play with souls. If a soul is shattered…it can never rise up to heaven, nor rest in the earth."  
Purin's eyes widened at the information.

"Promise me?" Lavender asked again.

"Purin promises."  
"Good." Lavender was satisfied.

She doubted the girl would do such a thing anyways, but…

"And…make sure that if you have children one day, you tell them the same thing. Magic can often be inherited. Who knows…maybe your kids will have powers too."  
"You really think so?" Purin asked her with awe.

"Maybe." Lavender said with a shrug, "I have my doubts…about what Shirogane-kun said about our animal abilities only being temporary."

…..

000000000000000000000000

…

Lavender woke up at six again and started the day by making breakfast and bentos. She thought back to her talk with Purin the night before.

She'd made a connection.

She'd tried keeping her distance…but maybe distancing herself wasn't the answer. It just scared her…the thought of really forming a friendship and then…then leaving.

She'd always been like that though, come to think of it. Even back at Hogwarts. Parvati had to try really hard to break down the walls Lavender had built up around her. Sure, she was nice, sociable and got along with nearly everyone (mostly), but she never let them get too close. Well, save for Parvati.

In the last world…Karin had gotten close to her in a weird way. That friendship had been different from her relationship with Parvati. It was like…they argued a lot, and rubbed each other the wrong way, but at the same time…at the same time they'd understood each other more than anyone else.

Lavender had always been afraid, but she didn't really know what of.

Her mother's coldness? Her aunt's pity?

"What am I afraid of?" She whispered.

She made some breakfast for Purin, then woke up the kids and had them wash their faces and brush their teeth before coming down to eat. She took Purin her breakfast.

Purin really did look better today, only, she still had a fever.

Lavender received a phone call near the end of the day.

"Hello? Brown-san?"

"Yes? Who's this?" Lavender asked.

"This is Tsubaki-sensei, from Heicha's daycare. I was wondering if you would like me to just drop her off today. I realize things are tough on you…and I would like to see that Purin-chan is okay."  
"Of course." Lavender said, "I think she'd like that a lot. It would be very helpful too. Thank you."  
"It's no trouble. I'll see you in a few minutes." She said.

Lavender went back to folding laundry. She was nearly done when the doorbell rang.

She opened it up and sure enough, the woman she'd met at Heicha's daycare was standing there, holding Heicha's hand.

Lavender knelt down,

"How are you, Heicha-chan? Did you have a fun day?"  
"Hai!" Heicha said happily.

"That's good. Why don't you come in?" Lavender looked up at the teacher.

"Ah, thank you." She smiled at her, "You seem to be doing well, Brown-san."  
"I think so. Purin still has a bit of a fever, but she's doing much better. I was just about to make her some tea, would you like some too?"  
"That would be nice. Thank you." She said, apparently surprised at how well-put together this place still was.

"Heicha-chan," Lavender knelt down to her level again, "Could you do your oneechan a favour?"  
"Hai!" Heicha said enthusiastically.

"Could you take your clothes to your room and put them away? I have them all folded up here for you."  
"Leave it to Heicha!" The little girl agreed.

She grabbed her clothing pile and went up the stairs towards her room.

Lavender let out a sigh of relief, then decided she'd start on supper. She wanted to make it a bit earlier so that she'd have time for something special.

She was going to make a strawberry tart for them all.

She started on the food and turned on the kettle for tea. Once the tea was done, Lavender brought two cups up to Purin's room.

Lavender entered the room and set the two cups down.

"You can stay with us, Lav-neechan." Purin said.

"Not today." Lavender said with a wink, "I'm planning a surprise for all of you tonight and I have to finish before your siblings find out."  
"A surprise?" Purin asked her wide-eyed.

"Yup." Lavender smiled widely, "You're going to love it! But I have to go now, okay?"  
"Okay." Purin said, she looked to be in high spirits.

Lavender closed the door to leave them be.

Tsubaki-sensei turned to Purin,

"That girl seems to really care for you deeply, Purin-chan. Brown-san is doing a good job, nee?"  
"She is." Purin agreed, "Lav-neechan has been taking care of Purin…Sensei? Can a mother really hate their child?"

"Eh?" Tsubaki-sensei wondered.

Purin blushed,

"Purin…has a friend. She says her mother hates her."  
Tsubaki considered this a moment,

"Did your friend do something bad?"

"Purin doesn't think so…" Purin trailed off, "But…she was told that…her friend's mother abandoned her."  
"Ah." Tsubaki said.

Purin was still young, and it was difficult talking about such subjects with someone at that age.

"Anyone can have a child, Purin-chan." Tsubaki told Purin, "But not everyone who has a child can be a kaa-san. It sounds like your friend didn't really have a kaa-san. But…so long as she has good friends and other family, people who love her, then she doesn't need to be lonely, nee?"

Purin nodded her head,

"Un." She was still a little sad, but she supposed not everyone could be as lucky as she'd been to have such an amazing kaa-san.

Tsubaki-sensei smiled,

"Keep being her friend, Purin-chan. That's my advice."

…

00000000000000000000000

…

Tsubaki-sensei came down the stairs just as Lavender put the tart in the oven.

"Eh? You're leaving, Tsubaki-sensei?" Lavender asked her.

She'd actually forgotten she was here…

"Yes. It's time to go. Thank you for helping Purin-chan, Brown-san." She looked over at the mixing bowl and the semi-clean counter, "May I ask where you learned to cook, Brown-san? You seem to be holding things together rather nicely."  
"Thank you, sensei." Lavender said politely, "Well…I've often had to cook for myself growing up. Recently, my guardian hired a caretaker for me. Eto…but I've been doing some reading up still on cooking and baking still."  
There was a good chance that she wouldn't be so lucky in the next world to have a caretaker. She needed all the practice and ability she had.  
"I see…" Tsubaki said.

She wondered if maybe Lavender was the friend Purin had been asking about.

In which case, when she said she understood Purin's situation, maybe she really had understood.

Tsubaki-sensei nodded, a smile forming on her lips,

"You're a good child, aren't you Brown-san? I can tell."  
Lavender's face reddened, but miraculously, her ears didn't pop out into cat ears.

What was she supposed to say to that?

"I'll leave Purin's care to you." She decided, "But, I can drop off Heicha-chan for you to lessen your work load a little, okay?"  
"That would be extremely helpful." Lavender said, "But…I mean, is that really okay? I know it's not part of your job."  
She shook her head,

"I'm very fond of Purin-chan. I don't want to see her get overworked again. Whatever I can do to help her, I'll do it."

"Thank you." Lavender said, "You're very kind, sensei."  
"Don't mention it. Just take good care of Purin-chan, okay?"

Lavender showed her to the door. She started walking to her car, only…

"Eh~ What a nice lady."  
Lavender looked up suddenly. It was that child alien from before. He held out his hand and started sucking away Tsubaki-sensei's life force.

"Stop it!" Lavender shouted.

She reached inside herself, drawing on her magic and allowing it to burst out.

Her body was enveloped by a white light and her clothing changed. Her cat ears and tail came in.

It was too late when the light dispersed, however. The child alien had already formed a chimera anima. A strange human-chicken hybrid wearing an apron.

She needed to get away from this house!  
She ran towards the creature which shot strange, flaming pellets from its mouth. Lavender summoned her staff, shielding herself from the attack.

She jumped, flipping through the air.

Ice and snow swirled around her, then rained down on the hybrid creature. The chicken dodged, jumping out of the way. It seemed to lay an egg, then take out…a cannon and fire at her.

Lavender's eyes narrowed. The chicken tried to run, but suddenly found herself incapable of it. Ice was crawling up its legs. In fact, the ice coated the entire yard. There was nowhere to go.

The chicken Chimera Anima let out a cry as the ice started purifying it.

She knew even before its body started to glow and it was slowly reduced that she'd done it. Lavender cut the infuser creature in two while Tsubaki-sensei's soul returned to her body.

Lavender turned towards the alien child, holding out her staff turned spear and ready to keep fighting.

The alien boy clicked his tongue, then disappeared.

Lavender then transformed back.

It seemed her warning had not been heeded. The aliens would continue using human souls to invade this planet.

"Lavender-neechan?"

Lavender turned to see Purin at the door in her pyjamas, she looked worried.

"Don't worry." Lavender smiled at her, "It was a Chimera Anima, but I beat it. Hardly a scratch on me."

Purin frowned,

"You should sit down. Just for a bit. You have some time since Heicha is back, right?"  
"Yeah…Alright. Couldn't hurt to take a small break." Lavender agreed, if only to give Purin some peace of mind.

…**.**

**Here's an update on the Animetopoeia versions that have been suggested to me thus far:**

**Hayao Miyazaki Animetopoeia starring Draco Malfoy**

**Sports Animetopoeia starring Draco Malfoy**

**Harem Animetopoeia starring Luna Lovegood**

**Harem Animetopoeia starring Harry Potter**

**Mecha Animetopoeia starring Hermione Granger**

**Dark Animetopoeia starring Harry Potter (currently available on fanfiction)**

**Magical Girl Animetopoeia starring Lavender Brown (currently available on fanfiction)**

**Magical Girl Animetopoeia starring Harry Potter**

**Magical Girl Animetopoeia starring Luna Lovegood**

**Comedy Animetopoeia starring Sirius Black (wait, who suggested this one again?)**

**Ninja Animetopoeia starring Harry Potter**

**Magical Boy Animetopoeia starring Draco Malfoy (What?)**

**Phantom Thief Animetopoeia starring Harry Potter**

**Horror Animetopoeia starring Harry Potter**


End file.
